Washington state officials must push for atrazine ban

November 15, 2011

Governor Chris Gregoire
Office of the Governor
PO Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002

Rep. Jay Inslee
Shoreline Center 18560 1st Ave., NE Suite E-800
Shoreline, WA 98155-2150

Dear Governor Gregoire/Representative Inslee,

Last week we submitted the attached letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), urging it to ban the herbicide atrazine.

Despite clear evidence that use of atrazine has led to widespread environmental contamination threatening public health and wildlife, it’s the most widely used herbicide in the United States. The Department of Agriculture found it in 94 percent of drinking water tested — more than any other pesticide. Atrazine is linked to human health problems such as endocrine disruption, cancer and birth defects, and harms the immune, hormone and reproductive systems of wildlife.

A panel of independent scientists and public health experts commissioned by EPA to evaluate atrazine recently criticized EPA for understating the risks of the carcinogenic herbicide. The panel concluded atrazine is linked to ovarian cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, hairy-cell leukemia, and thyroid cancer.

Please ask your contacts at EPA to cancel registration of atrazine immediately.

Sincerely,

Trudy Bialic, Director of Public Affairs
PCC Natural Markets