Atrazine, one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States, has been cleared for continued use after a federal review concluded that it does not pose an extinction-level threat to protected wildlife. The decision effectively supports continued application of the chemical on corn, sorghum, sugar cane, and other crops. Farmers apply an average of 72 million pounds of atrazine each year across roughly 75 million acres.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision was welcomed by major agricultural groups but criticized by environmental and public-health advocates. Atrazine has been linked in research to hormonal disruption in frogs, contamination of waterways, reproductive problems, birth defects, fertility concerns, and cancer risks. The European Union phased it out more than two decades ago because of groundwater contamination.
Nathan Donley of the Center for Biological Diversity called atrazine “the most widespread pesticide water contaminant in the United States.” The decision reveals one of the unresolved tensions in industrial agriculture: chemicals that help maintain large-scale crop production may also create long-term risks for water, wildlife, farm communities, and public health.