i'm bob dole, eat yer atrazine..i'm bob dole...

[Guest guest]

A lobbying success story, from the maker of atrazine

 

The manufacturer of atrazine, an herbicide connected by studies to

frog deformities and increased risk of prostate cancer in humans,

spent $260,000 lobbying the U.S. EPA and other government bodies on

behalf of the chemical. Not only that, but Syngenta Crop Protection

enlisted the formidable lobbying talents of Viagra emissary and

ex-senator Bob Dole, who met at least once with White House Deputy

Chief of Staff Joe Hagin to discuss the issue. After reports began

emerging about atrazine's ill effects -- biologist Tyrone Hayes

testified to Congress that low levels of atrazine " chemically

castrate and feminize " male frogs, fish, and other wildlife, and

other tests indicate that men who work around the chemical are at

risk of prostate cancer -- Syngenta hired PR firm Alston & Bird to

lobby the White House, the Justice Department, and Congress on its

behalf. Before Dole's meeting, Alston & Bird prepared a memo saying

that the EPA should reregister atrazine by Oct. 31, 2003; after

Dole's meeting, the agency did just that.

 

straight to the source: Duluth News Tribune, Associated Press,

Frederic J. Frommer, 27 Oct 2004

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