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| Co-ops Urge Caution, Sound Science in Atrazine Review |
| 7/8/2010 |
USAgNet
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The National Council of Farmer Cooperatives reiterated that the Environmental Protection Agency's review of the herbicide atrazine should rely on the broad scientific evidence testifying the chemical's safety. NCFC's action came as the Triazine Network unveiled new research today that showed thousands of job across rural America could be lost if farmers are no longer able to use atrazine.
"Atrazine is the most thoroughly tested herbicide used in agriculture today, and EPA itself re-registered the product just four years ago, after more than a decade of intensive scientific study," said NCFC President and CEO Chuck Conner. "Farmers across the country depend on atrazine and products containing it to increase their yield to meet the needs of a growing global population while at the same time practicing sound soil and water conservation. It is our hope that EPA will follow the science--not the ideologically-driven agendas of activists--in conducting their review."
NCFC outlined its concerns over the review in a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson earlier this year. NCFC emphasized that the use of atrazine allows farmers to produce their crops in an environmentally and economically sound way. At the same time, ample scientific research testifies to the basic safety of atrazine, a fact that EPA itself stated in its 2006 re-registration.
Government panels in Australia, Canada and Great Britain, along with the World Health Organizations, have also reached similar conclusions. |
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