MCGA to EPA: Decisions on Atrazine Should be Based on Good Science
The Michigan Corn Growers Association recently submitted comments on EPA’s memorandum to the Registration Review Decision of atrazine. While EPA’s memorandum does contain some positive changes from its earlier recommendations, including a more reasonable mitigation picklist and an improved aquatic level of concern of 9.7 part per billion, concerns remain.
“Atrazine has been around for decades and has been repeatedly demonstrated to be a safe and effective tool for weed control,” said John Delmotte, president of MCGA. “Michigan farmers consistently rely on atrazine because of its broad-spectrum efficacy, its long residual period, and because it is the most cost-effective choice. In these economically challenging times for farmers it is important that EPA moves forward with a mitigation framework that gets the science right and supports continued farmer access to this important product.”
EPA continues to use a low quality study that keeps the level of concern lower than it should be. And it uses a flawed model that vastly overpredicts atrazine runoff, requiring mitigations for 68 percent of U.S. corn acres. Correcting these two areas would remove millions of acres from unnecessary and costly mitigation requirements. (Your organization) will continue to advocate on this and other regulatory issues that impact our growers.
Read MCGA's comments here.
