EPA Reviewing Atrazine Risk
Posted by Brian Moran on Fri, Apr 02, 2010 @ 01:32
According to a recent article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), USEPA is revisiting risk assessment associated with the herbicide Atrazine. Atrazine is one of the most commonly used herbicides in the U.S. It has been used for over 50 years with the heaviest use occurring in mid America agricultural states. The agency is trying to incorporate human epidemiology data and incident data into risk assessments for the chemical. The Agricultural Health Study is a collaborative of EPA, NEIHS, and the National Cancer Institute and is tracking the effects of exposures in some 90,000 people. EPA is evaluating the scientific factors to combine the incident data with epidemiology effects to integrate pesticide risk assessments.
If EPA can finalize this draft approach, the process will likely be incorporated into other pesticide evaluations, as well. EPA is also trying to utilize human incident data from poison control centers into human health risk assessments, although the quality of the data for this use is debatable. Although many are critical of the new approach, it may provide a better alternative to the old approach of extrapolating human health risk data from rat studies to humans.
Submitted by Brian V. Moran, P.E., LSP