'Atrazine in water poses no threat to human health'

Though widely used agricultural herbicide Atrazine can be detected in water at extraordinarily low concentrations, they pose no threat to human health, claimed atrazine manufacturer Syngenta.

In 2008, none of the 122 community water systems monitored last year in 10 US states where atrazine is used most exceeded the federal standards set for atrazine in drinking water or raw water, said Syngenta.

For centuries, farmers across the world have been using atrazine to fight weeds in corn, grain sorghum, sugar cane and other crops.

The federal lifetime drinking water standard for atrazine is set at 3 parts-per-billion, a level containing a 1,000-fold safety factor. The EPA concluded that the triazine herbicides, including atrazine, pose "no harm that would result to the US population"

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets very conservative standards for chemicals in drinking water to protect human health. In the case of atrazine, EPA adopted a federal lifetime drinking water standard for atrazine is set at 3 parts-per-billion (ppb), a level containing a 1,000-fold safety factor.

In raw (unprocessed) water, atrazine concentrations also declined significantly between 1994 and 2006 at 103 frequently monitored sites. This is due in large part to the best management practices growers now use with waterways and buffer strips. These practices have done much to protect water quality over the last 15 years.

Syngenta continues to work closely with growers in many watershed projects and in other stewardship programmes to ensure that atrazine is used according to EPA guidelines and best management practices.

Atrazine recently underwent a rigorous, up-to-date safety evaluation by the EPA and was re-registered for use in agriculture. In 2006, the EPA looked at all of the triazine herbicides together - atrazine, simazine and propazine - and determined they pose "no harm that would result to the general US population, infants, children or other major identifiable subgroups of consumers."