Replacing fear with facts about atrazine
From Journal Star:
Peoria has one of the lowest concentrations of atrazine in any test data available. To frighten the citizens of Peoria with unfounded claims of “unsafe” levels of atrazine in their water is simply irresponsible. It also shows a bias against farmers and modern farming practices in Illinois.
The results of over 180 separate drinking water samples from Illinois American Water Company over the past 14 years show that only nine have contained measurable amounts of atrazine. The large majority of samples have shown no traces of atrazine at all in Peoria, and the highest level found was only 0.6 parts per billion. Annual running averages over this period have ranged from zero to 0.2 parts per billion, a minimum of 15 times below the federal drinking water standard.
In 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the triazine herbicides, including atrazine, pose “no harm that would result to the general U.S. population, infants, children or other … consumers.” Over 50 years, atrazine continues to pass the world’s highest safety standards – those enforced by the EPA.
Syngenta firmly believes that the Holiday Shores lawsuit filed in Illinois has no merit, and we will vigorously defend this matter. EPA has set a standard with which Holiday Shores has complied for more than a decade – a level containing a 1,000-fold safety factor. To put it in perspective, a 150-pound adult could drink 21,000 gallons of water containing 3 parts per billion of atrazine every day for 70 years and still not be affected.
Please click here to read this article in full at pjstar.com.
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