Lauren Said-Moorhouse | Chief Editor

The most commonly used herbicide, atrazine has the potential to contaminate both ground and surface water.

A widely used herbicide in agriculture, atrazine is being put back under the magnifying glass by the US Environment Protection Agency due to its possible health risks.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a comprehensive re-evaluation into the human health implications of widely utilised herbicide, atrazine.

Atrazine is a commonly used herbicide in the US, Australia and various other countries, applied to control grass and broadleaf weeds in crops in both stages of pre and post-emergence during the planting of produce.

“[The EPA] Administrator [Lisa] Jackson has made it a priority to examine how we manage and assess the risk of chemicals, including pesticides, and the Obama EPA will take a hard look at atrazine and other substances,” says assistant administrator for EPA’s office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances Steve Owens.

“This thorough review 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.”

The EPA review, which is currently in the stages of being finalised in conjunction with the independent Scientific Advisory Panel  in early November, will re-evaluate the herbicide through its carcinogenicity as well as its possible connection to birth defects, low birth weight, and premature births.

According to the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), atrazine is “one of the most widely used herbicides in Australian agriculture.”

Dr Simon Cubit, APVMA’s manager of Public Affairs released a statement saying, “The APVMA is aware that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) is launching a comprehensive re-investigation of the health impacts of the herbicide atrazine.”

“The APVMA plans to liaise with the US EPA as it conducts its further re-consideration and, if new information comes to light, will consider whether further regulatory action is warranted in Australia.”

In March 2008, Australia completed its own re-assessment of the herbicide and the APVMA concluded the report stating that it “has not seen any direct evidence that current uses of atrazine pose a risk to human health.”