Subject: EU withdraws approval for potentially harmful herbicide atrazine...............
Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State
of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
EU withdraws approval for potentially harmful herbicide
atrazine
BASEL, Switzerland (AFP)
Oct 05, 2003
The European Union has withdrawn approval of the
widely-used herbicide atrazine, the product's maker, Swiss agrochemicals group
Syngenta said on Sunday.
Syngenta said in a statement on its website that the
decision not to allow re-registration of atrazine and a sister product,
simazine, was taken by the EU's Standing Committee on the Food Chain and
Animal Health.
The 45 year-old herbicide, used to kill weeds around
crops, has been implicated by authorities in incidents of ground water
contamination, prompting recent bans on its use in several European countries
including France.
Exposure to excessive amounts of atrazine can potentially
cause heart, lung and kidney trouble as well as cancer, according to the US
Environmental Protection Agency.
Commenting on the EU regulator's move, Syngenta said it
"regrets this decision as it overrides the science-based process for
product registration".
"A favorable EU science review demonstrated the
safety of the products to humans and the environment as part of the EU
registration process," it added.
Syngenta said it was already offering alternatives to the
herbicide in Germany and Italy, and would extend them to the rest of the EU.
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