THIBODAUX – Some local sugar-cane farmers are adding their voices to objections to a new federal review of a widely used weed-killing chemical that environmentalists contend may be threatening drinking-water supplies.
Environmental organizations broadly support the EPA’s decision to learn more about the effects of the herbicide Atrazine on humans and have criticized what they see as government efforts to soft-sell the chemical’s potential dangers.
Atrazine, manufactured in St. Gabriel, is used as a weed killer in products like St. Augustine Weed & Feed, sold on the shelves of local hardware and garden-supply stores. Its primary commercial use is killing weeds that grow in fields of sugar cane, corn and other crops.
Some biological studies, including two reported recently in scientific journals, purport to link Atrazine to development of frogs containing the sex organs of both genders, a claim Syngenta, the global company that manufactures the chemical, says is not scientifically sound.
Some south Louisiana water bodies, including Bayou Lafourche, are included in a list of places where Atrazine has been detected above limits considered safe by the EPA for brief periods of time in certain years.
A study by The Courier and the Daily Comet of Atrazine numbers in Lafourche Parish show elevated levels of the substance in drinking water on specific dates.
On May 6, 2005, the reading was 9.11 parts per billion, more than three times the federal limit number. The Atrazine numbers on tap water in Lafourche spiked at 5.48 on March 28, 2005, 3.38 on June 30, 2008, and 3.05 on June 23, 2008.
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* Atrazine — A safety problem * Regulation — the last thing we need
Environmental organizations broadly support the EPA’s decision to learn more about the effects of the herbicide Atrazine on humans and have criticized what they see as government efforts to soft-sell the chemical’s potential dangers.
Atrazine, manufactured in St. Gabriel, is used as a weed killer in products like St. Augustine Weed & Feed, sold on the shelves of local hardware and garden-supply stores. Its primary commercial use is killing weeds that grow in fields of sugar cane, corn and other crops.
Some biological studies, including two reported recently in scientific journals, purport to link Atrazine to development of frogs containing the sex organs of both genders, a claim Syngenta, the global company that manufactures the chemical, says is not scientifically sound.
Some south Louisiana water bodies, including Bayou Lafourche, are included in a list of places where Atrazine has been detected above limits considered safe by the EPA for brief periods of time in certain years.
A study by The Courier and the Daily Comet of Atrazine numbers in Lafourche Parish show elevated levels of the substance in drinking water on specific dates.
On May 6, 2005, the reading was 9.11 parts per billion, more than three times the federal limit number. The Atrazine numbers on tap water in Lafourche spiked at 5.48 on March 28, 2005, 3.38 on June 30, 2008, and 3.05 on June 23, 2008.
But officials in Lafourche and Terrebonne, as well as specialists with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture, say their monitoring of Atrazine presence, nonetheless, shows no dangers to local water supplies.
The local and state officials acknowledge that the federal limit is not based on the kind of daily spikes that were seen in Lafourche but on annual averages. The spikes are rare, they said, and are easily wiped out in the process of compiling the numbers.
The Lafourche Parish Water District’s manager, Dirk Barrios, did not return calls Wednesday and Friday. His office did, however, provide requested data.
In Terrebonne, the numbers appear to be non-problematic.
“Once water has been treated in the delivery system, there has been no detection of the presence of Atrazine,” said Barry Blackwell, manager of Terrebonne’s Consolidated Water District No. 1. “While the raw-water-supply source at times has indicated the presence of Atrazine, the water in the distribution system has not. We use charcoal filtering plus the customary chemicals in the process of treating the water. It is removed.”
Steve Owens, the EPA’s assistant administrator for pesticides and toxic substances, said earlier this month that the review of Atrazine is an on-going component of the Obama administration’s efforts to assess risks of chemicals.
The review, he said, “will rely on transparency and sound science, including independent scientific peer review. We will continue to closely track new scientific developments and will determine whether a change in our regulatory position is appropriate.”