This came to us early this week from the Agriculture Committee Republican Press Office in the U S House of Representatives in WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues its attack on American farmers and ranchers. Most recently, the EPA has begun an assault on Atrazine, one of the oldest, most well-established agricultural chemicals on the market. Despite completing its 12-year review of Atrazine and granting its re-registration in 2006, the EPA announced last month that it would reevaluate Atrazine by subjecting it to an additional Federal Insecticide Fungicide Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP).
Atrazine is the second-most commonly used herbicide in the U.S. As the crop protector of choice for U.S. agriculture producers, Atrazine has been safely used by corn, sorghum and sugar growers for more than 50 years. To date, in over 6,000 scientific studies, there has not been credible evidence that Atrazine is harmful to human health or the environment. Rather, the studies demonstrate that Atrazine can be used in a safe manner without affecting human life or the environment.
In an editorial today, The Wall Street Journal says of the EPA’s attack on Atrazine:
“There is an agenda here far more ambitious than getting one chemical. The environmental lobby wants more farmland retired to ‘nature,’ and one way to do that is to make farming more expensive. The EPA notes that eliminating atrazine would cost $2 billion annually in lost crop yields and substituting more expensive herbicides. Some farmers would go out of business or ask the federal government for more subsidies.
“The environmental lobby also figures that if it can take down atrazine with its long record of clean health, it can get the EPA to prohibit anything. Sounds plausible. Between this and its determination to regulate greenhouse gases, the Obama EPA is proving itself a regulatory fundamentalist, with scant regard for good science or economics.”
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Agriculture Committee Republican Press Office
http://agriculture.house.gov/republicans
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