Companies with a financial interest in atrazine, a weed-killer sometimes found in drinking water, paid for thousands of studies federal regulators are using to assess health risks. These industry-funded studies largely support atrazine’s safety. But many have never been published or subjected to an independent scientific peer review.
Some independent studies documenting potentially harmful effects on animals and humans are not included in the research the EPA considered relevant to its safety review. Such studies include many that have been published in respected scientific journals.
AlterNet reports:
“Atrazine is one of the most widely used herbicides in the U.S. ... It has been the focus of intense scientific debate over its potential to cause cancer, birth defects, and hormonal and reproductive problems ... [T]he EPA failed to warn the public that the weed-killer had been found at levels above federal safety limits in drinking water in at least four states.”