EPA proposal for pesticide tied to reproductive harm lands back with Trump
US environmental regulators are planning to change allowable levels of a weedkiller tied to reproductive health problems to a level critics say discounts years of documented health risks — and potentially marks a new battlefront within the Trump administration.
The proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was put forth in late 2024 under the Biden administration, would allow concentrations of the herbicide atrazine up to 9.7 parts per billion (ppb) in streams and lakes before any mitigation efforts were required.
That is nearly three times higher than the level of 3.4 ppb proposed by the EPA in 2016 and reiterated by the agency as proper in 2022. But it is lower than a level pushed for under the prior Trump administration. It is also lower than the longtime benchmark of 10 ppb that was in place from 2011-2019, and lower than atrazine maker Syngenta says is necessary.
The agency’s move has been met with outrage by environmental health advocates who say industry influence is overriding solid science, and years of fighting to reduce atrazine contamination of waterways is in jeopardy.
“It’s a punch in the gut for all the people who have worked to protect us from this incredibly harmful poison,” said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director with the Center for Biological Diversity.
Atrazine is a widely used weed killing chemical that is popular with farmers, particularly those growing corn, and the chemical has been found to heavily contaminate drinking water supplies around the country, raising concerns for human health. The chemical has been banned for use as an herbicide in European Union since 2003.