Trump Administration Clears Controversial Weedkiller for Use

The Trump administration ruled yesterday that a controversial weedkiller, atrazine, does not harm endangered species or pose a health hazard to humans.

The herbicide was invented in 1958 and quickly became one of the weedkillers of choice for farmers all over the world. It was widely used on crops, particularly corn, sorghum, and sugarcane, before the European Union banned the substance in 2004 after studies found elevated levels of atrazine in groundwater.

For years, environmental advocates have been attempting to do the same in the United States, but the farming industry has consistently opposed efforts. Recent studies have discovered that atrazine can disrupt the function of the endocrine system in both animals and humans, leading to reproductive and developmental defects, both before and after fetal growth. Certain studies have also linked the herbicide to breast cancer and prostate cancer, increasing the risk.

Furthermore, atrazine is highly water-soluble and maintains a half-life of 30 to 100 days in rivers and lakes. In water sources that lack sunlight and microbes, like groundwater, atrazine can persist for months or even years before it breaks down.

However, it remains as persistent as ever in the United States. According to the USGS, over 72 million pounds of atrazine were sprayed over American crops in 2019, though no data has been aggregated since then.

A non-profit environmental group managed to bring a case to the US Fish and Wildlife Service this year, claiming that atrazine directly leads to the extinction of local species. They aimed to make a final decision on the threat posed by atrazine this week, but the decision wasn't what environmentalists were hoping for.

Instead, lobbyists from the agricultural industry fought back, arguing that a ban on atrazine would decrease crop yields and force food prices higher at a time where many Americans are already facing sky-high prices at the pump and the supermarket. Farmers would also temporarily take on a larger workload and higher chemical costs– alternatives to atrazine are widely available, but they are priced slightly higher and are not as easy to use.

Meanwhile, atrazine's primary manufacturer claims that the herbicide actually helps the environment by reducing soil erosion and allowing farmers to plant more crops due to the lack of weeds.

In the end, the Fish and Wildlife Service ruled in favor of the farmers, concluding that several minor changes to the product would minimize its environmental impact. They did accept, though, that atrazine poses a major harm to aquatic or wetland areas due to the chemical's ability to limit photosynthesis. For this reason, they maintained that controlling runoff is essential to limiting the herbicide's impact on the local environment.

Environmental supporters were outraged, though. They claim that the decision does not stop the issue from the source, rather, it attempts to mitigate the impacts while keeping farmers and large chemical corporations content. They say the decision could cause the extinction of more than 1,000 protected species, and Americans are already facing the consequences of contaminated drinking water.

Fact of the Day (The Fact Site): If sheep have long tails when they are born, the tails are cut off in order to prevent infection. Sheep with long tails can easily trap urine and feces in their wool. This warm, damp, unsanitary area becomes a prime breeding ground for blowflies, which lay eggs on the sheep. When the eggs hatch, the emerging maggots feed on the sheep's living tissue, causing a severe, life-threatening parasitic infection that can be prevented by cutting off the tail.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): The first draft is just you telling yourself the story. (Terry Pratchett)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Demeanor (noun, dih-MEE-ner) - Demeanor refers to someone’s outward manner and behavior toward others.

In a Sentence: The teacher’s calm demeanor put the classroom at ease.

Image credit to EPA