http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/...80507084013.htm
ScienceDaily (May 8, 2008) — A common weedkiller in the U.S., already suspected of causing sexual abnormalities in frogs and fish, has now been found to alter hormonal signaling in human cells, scientists from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) report.


The UCSF study is the first to identify its full effect on human cells. It is being reported in the May 7 issue of the journal "PLoS One."

In studies with human placental cells in culture, the UCSF scientists found that atrazine increased the activity of a gene associated with abnormal human birth weight when over-expressed in the placenta. Atrazine also targeted a second gene that has been found to be amplified in the uterus of women with unexplained infertility.

In parallel studies of zebrafish, a widely used animal in development studies, the research team showed that atrazine "feminized" the fish population -- increasing the proportion of fish that developed into females.

In November 2003, NRDC filed a lawsuit charging that the White House and the agency were violating the freedom of information law by withholding documentary evidence. The following month, the White House released 22 documents, with most of their contents blacked out, including a memo from former senator Bob Dole to a high-level White House official urging the EPA not to restrict the hazardous weed-killer despite the environmental risks. The White House continues to withhold more than 80 other relevant documents.Several recent studies show that atrazine causes sexual abnormalities in frogs, and another revealed elevated levels of prostate cancer in workers at an atrazine manufacturing plant.

http://www.syngentacropprotection-us.com/p....asp?nav=FSheet

Atrazine Valuable Production Tool for Farmers

45 years of use shows benefits to crop production, soil conservation.

Forty-five years ago, the introduction of atrazine herbicide brought to corn growers an effective product for broad spectrum, season-long weed control without crop injury. Today, atrazine remains one of the most important herbicides in the US, reconfirming the product's key role in food production.

New research shows that farmers use atrazine to control weeds on about two-thirds of all US corn and sorghum acreage. It is also applied to as much as 90 percent of US sugar cane acreage in some states.

This predominant use of atrazine indirectly benefits consumers in a significant way. By using atrazine over alternative herbicides, farmers save an average $35 per acre in herbicide costs and yield advantages. Without atrazine, yield losses would ultimately increase grocery store prices.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/...50329140114.htm
Atrazine Runoff Jeopardizing Herbicide's Use By Farmers

High levels of atrazine have been found in almost a dozen watersheds in Indiana.

"Monitoring data has shown that atrazine is not showing up in groundwater but is showing up in surface water, such as reservoirs, ponds and lakes," he said. "That's causing our regulatory agencies to become concerned."

http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/2002/At...mins14aug02.htm
Prompt action to limit further pollution from atrazine may be delayed by the development of “super weeds” volunteer crops or weds that develop multiple herbicide tolerance by pollen exchange between commercial varieties. Some authorities and government regulators advise that herbicides such as atrazine should be used to control superweeds. For example an Agbiotech Infosource newsletter of Ag-West Biotech comments” This is what happened on an Alberta farm in the late 1990s. Producers planted three different kinds of herbicide resistant canola in nearby fields. The pollen from the canola flowers drifted on the wind or was carried by insects from field to field. This mixed the genes for resistance to RoundupTM as well as two other broad-spectrum herbicides, LibertyTM and PursuitTM. In following years, it was discovered that some of the volunteer canola plants in these fields could survive a spraying of any of the three herbicides. However, even in this case, the volunteer canola was hardly a "superweed". As Dr. McHughen points out, Roundup ReadyTM is only resistant to Roundup™ herbicide. Other herbicides will kill it as easily as any other weeds, and this holds true of all herbicide-resistant crops.” The recommendation by companies , government regulators and academe that the solution to “super weeds” is more and stronger herbicide and widespread deployment of a globally polluting herbicide such as atrazine seems to be a form of lunacy.

http://www.omaf.gov.on.ca/english/crops/fi...3/ct_0303a7.htm

What's New in Weed Control?
Roundup Transorb + atrazine (Monsanto)

A good tank-mix option for Roundup Ready (RR) corn if you anticipate multiple flushes of broadleaf weeds since atrazine will provide follow-up residual control. However atrazine can cause antagonism where perennial weeds are a problem. Timing: Post-emergent.

http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Monsant...ks-Atrazine.htm

Like most Iowans, Jackson had never considered herbicides a threat to drinking water until 1984, when Richard Kelley had launched a study of contaminants in the state's drinking-water supplies. An official of what was known then as the Iowa Department of Water, Air, and Waste Management, Kelley had not planned to include atrazine and alachlor in his survey. But George Hallberg, a researcher at the Iowa Geological Survey, had found surprisingly high herbicide levels in water supplies in a small 1983 study, so Kelley decided to include the weed-killers in his statewide survey-and ended up finding them in almost every water source he tested. "When we got hits on alachlor and atrazine, the pesticide industry came down on us like a bunch of stormtroopers," Kelley recalls. "They came out and publicly criticized our study, and it was routine to get phone calls from their local reps telling me what an idiot I was."In Fayette County, he said, Monsanto was sampling deep wells in clay soils where herbicides were unlikely to turn up, instead of shallow wells in sandy soils where they were common. Kelley looked at all the sampling sites in Iowa and came to the same conclusion. "The study was systematic-it was systematically designed not to find the product," he recalls.

It kills frogs and fish – but is the Roundup herbicide being sprayed in our local streets and parks making you and your children sick?

New research has shown that Roundup is associated with a number of growing public health problems such as:

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Asthma

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Attention Deficit Disorder

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Cancer

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Birth defects

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Reproductive problems

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Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Acute health problems from exposure to Roundup include:

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Eye pain / burning / irritation

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Blurred vision

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Swollen eyes, face and joints

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Skin rash / blisters

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Rapid heartbeat

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Heart palpitations

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High blood pressure

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Chest pains

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Coughing / breathing problems

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Headache

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Nausea

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Facial numbness

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Itchy / burning / tingling skin

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Recurrent eczema

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Fatigue

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Chemical sensitivity

Stop the irresponsible use of herbicide in our streets and parks by the City of Port Adelaide Enfield.
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is a serious and growing public health problem that affects people of all ages, races and economic backgrounds. People with MCS are made sick by exposure to chemicals found in common products such as pesticides, herbicides, perfumes, tobacco smoke, new carpets, air “fresheners”, new paint and building materials, and many cleaning and laundry products.

Symptoms of MCS vary from mild to life threatening and include headache, asthma, nausea, diarrhoea, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, dizziness, irregular heart beat and seizures. MCS symptoms in children include attention deficit, hyperactivity and other learning and behavioural problems. People with severe MCS are often diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

In 2005 a Parliamentary Inquiry into MCS in SA found that herbicides such as Roundup have been associated with MCS and warned that this evidence should not be ignored. The Inquiry recommended that local Councils adopt “No-Spray Registers” to identify people with MCS in the community.