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Farm groups appeal EPA’s Atrazine proposal
Farmers have one month to comment on the EPA’s proposed revisions to a widely used herbicide.
John Crane of the Michigan Farm Bureau says the EPA’s Brownfield proposal would reduce the rate at which atrazine is used, as well as impose additional restrictions.
“EPA’s own Science Advisory Panel did not support the studies that EPA used to develop the current proposed limit,” he says. “This chemistry has been around for over 60 years, has been extensively studied, and has a long history of safety.”
He says atrazine is a key ingredient in more than 90 products used by farmers.
“For Michigan, that means about three and a half million acres of crops like field corn, sweet corn, wheat, Christmas trees, turf crops, sorghum and more,” he says. “If we get it down to those levels, it’s just not going to be efficient for farmers to keep using it.”
EPA’s comment period ends on October 7thousand.
