Fwd: PANUPS: EU says No to Atrazine, But Not to Paraquat

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PANUPS: EU says No to Atrazine, But Not to Paraquat

Fri, 24 Oct 2003 15:51:44 -0700

 

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P A N U P S

Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

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EU says " No " to Atrazine, But Not to Paraquat

 

October 24, 2003

 

In a move that is likely to have a worldwide impact on herbicide use, the

European Union has withdrawn regulatory approval for the widely used herbicide,

atrazine, due to groundwater contamination. Several countries in the EU,

including France, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden had already banned the

herbicide, which is manufactured by Syngenta. In response, Syngenta has

announced that it is already offering alternatives to this product in Germany

and Italy, and would extend those products to the rest of the EU.

 

Atrazine, a triazine broadleaf herbicide, is the most used herbicide in the

U.S., where more than 60 million pounds are applied each year, mostly to corn.

In the U.S. it is also used on sorghum (a cereal grain), sugarcane, Christmas

trees, woodlands and golf courses. In 2002, two studies raised new concerns

about the herbicide, one connecting extremely low levels of atrazine with sexual

abnormalities in frogs, and another pointing to increased prostrate cancer among

atrazine production workers. Traces of atrazine are found routinely in streams,

ponds and lakes within the U.S. " There seems to be no atrazine-free

environment, " said University of California Berkeley researcher Tyrone Hayes,

author of the study on frogs.

 

Both studies surfaced as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) was

finalizing an ecological risk assessment for atrazine. Yet despite these

findings, and the fact that its own seasonal water quality risk estimates were

above " acceptable " levels, U.S. EPA re-approved the registration of atrazine in

January, 2003. It also mandated a program of weekly water quality monitoring to

be conducted seasonally by Syngenta in areas of high atrazine use.

 

In another decision, the EU has decided not to prohibit another controversial

Syngenta herbicide, paraquat, which is already banned or severely restricted in

eleven countries, including five EU member nations. This decision has put the

fate of such pre-existing national bans in question, raising serious concerns by

member states about their ability to protect the health of their citizens and

environment from pesticide damage at the national level. A notorious

occupational poison, paraquat has been on the PAN International list of " Dirty

Dozen " pesticides since 1985. Due to its' high toxicity, absence of antidote,

easy availability and danger to workers and the public, especially in developing

countries, an international campaign to end Syngenta's production and sale of

paraquat is now underway.

 

Sources: Terra Wire, EU withdraws approval for potentially harmful herbicide

atrazine, Switzerland, Oct 05, 2003; Time's Up for Atrazine?, PANNA, Global

Pesticide Campaigner, August 2002; Atrazine Facts; PANNA website,

http://www.panna.org; First Binding Controls of PIC and POPs U PAN UK,

http://217.154.68.186/pestnews/pn40/pn40p5.htm; Syngenta Press Release, EU

Registration of Atrazine Not Granted Despite Favorable Science Review,

http://www.syngenta.com/en/media/article.aspx?article_id=325 Web site; Paraquat,

Syngenta's Controversial Herbicide, Berne Declaration, Swedish Society for

Nature Conservation, PAN UK, PAN Asia Pacific, Foro Emaús, 2002.

 

Contact: PANNA or PAN UK.

 

For information on the Syngenta/Paraquat campaign, contact PANNA; PAN UK email,

admin, web site, http://www.pan-uk.org; PAN AP email,

panap, web site, http://www.panap.net; or Bern Declaration email

info, web site http://www.evb.ch.

 

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and reporting on

pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the mainstream media. It's

produced by Pesticide Action Network North America, a non-profit and

non-governmental organization working to advance sustainable alternatives to

pesticides worldwide.

 

You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and all

contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit

http://www.panna.org/donate.

 

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