...according to a new report released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “Sadly, new data doesn’t point to new results — atrazine can be found everywhere we look,” said Jennifer Sass, PhD, NRDC Senior Scientist and an author of the report.“
Banned by the European Union, atrazine is the most commonly detected pesticide in U.S. waters and is a known endocrine disruptor, which means that it affects human and animal hormones. Last year, NRDC’s Poisoning the Well report shined a bright light on widespread contamination of American drinking water by the pesticide atrazine.
An EPA investigation of the chemical kicked off soon after the report was released and magnified by prominent media coverage, with expert meetings being held all last week in DC. The report authors today released Still Poisoning the Well, which uses updated data and new scientific research to show that the vexing problem continues throughout the Midwest and southern United States.Atrazine season is here, and while it is great to see the U.S. EPA revisiting the registration of this pesticide, until they change monitoring policy high concentrations in drinking water will continue to be ignored,” said Sass. This exposure could have a considerable impact on reproductive health. Scientific research has tied this chemical to some ghastly impacts on wildlife and raises red flags for possible human impacts.”
The report reveals that all of the watersheds monitored by EPA and 80% of the drinking water sampled tested positive for atrazine. Contamination was most severe in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. An extensive U.S. Geological Survey study found that approximately 75 percent of stream water and about 40 percent of all groundwater samples from agricultural areas contained atrazine, and according to the New York Times, an estimated 33 million Americans have been exposed to atrazine through their drinking water systems. Full Report
experts say ancient freshwater was created eons ago and trapped underground in huge reservoirs, or aquifers. And like oil, no one knows how much there is—but experts do know that when it's gone, it's gone. "You can apply the economics of mining because you are depleting a finite resource,"