SEX changes, hermaphrodites, malformed sex organs, feminized males and population crashes! In the early 1990s, scientists around the globe started noticing disturbing physical changes in animals, birds, insects and fish. The males of many species appeared feminised and as a result populations declined drastically. At the same, time there was a steady increase in cancer rates in human populations. Human sperm counts were dropping without explanation. In the 1980s a Danish study showed that the human sperm count had fallen by 50% in just 50 years! (Cadbury, 1997).

Worrying that trends would continue, baffled scientists began to search for a possible cause. Famous researchers, Niels Skakkebaek and John McLachlan proposed that Xenoestrogens were responsible (Cadbury, 1997). Xenoestrogens are oestrogens produced outside the body that can disrupt our hormonal system once ingested. The scientific community embarked upon a series of in-depth and far-reaching studies, and over a number of years have attributed the cause of these problems to a host of synthetically-produced chemicals including pesticides, plastics, PCBs, the Dirty Dozen and herbicides including the triazines. These synthetically manufactured chemicals, mimic oestrogen and as endocrine disruptors, disturb our own body’s chemical processes. Disturbances are sometimes irreversible, producing health effects that can be passed on to the next generation (Rountree, 2009) (Cadbury 1997).

There is a plethora of scientific literature available linking atrazine, one of the triazines, to a wide range of serious environmental and health issues, particularly in aquatic ecosystems. (Suzawa & Ingraham, 2008 ; Wiegand et Al, 2000) Some of these effects include sex reversal and feminisation of males. (Oka et Al, 2008; Shenoy, 2009)

About 50% of breast cancers are sensitive to oestrogen and will grow in their presence. (Cadbury, 1997). As early as 1993, scientists suspected that chemicals like atrazine were responsible for the significant increase in breast cancer. (Davis et Al 1993) In 1997 Kettles et Al, published a paper that showed a relationship between triazine exposure and breast cancer. This illustrates the very serious concern of having an environment contaminated with
chemicals that act like oestrogens.

While the WHO is yet to add atrazine to it’s list of confirmed carcinogens, more than one research paper has noted that, in vivo, atrazine and the triazines have an oestrogenic affect by increasing aromatase production. Atrazine has the potential to promote tumor growth. (Sanderson, 2000; Fan at Al, 2007)
It is very possible that the use of atrazine in Tasmania is one of the causes of high cancer rates in our population. High levels of exposure to atrazine cause birth defects, liver, heart and kidney damage (ATSDR, 2003; Gale, 2010) and long term exposure can lead to a host of commonly-experienced medical problems like Poly Cystic Ovaries, early onset of puberty and low sperm counts.

For aquatic ecosystems, atrazine spells disaster and has been linked to reproductive abnormalities in fish and amphibians and other health problems in clams and shrimp (Suzawa & Ingraham, 2008; Graymore, Stagnitti & Allison, 2001; Lawton et Al, 2006, Phyu, Warne & Lim, 2005; Oulmi, Negele, & Braunbeck, 1994) Tasmania’s economy, including the fishing and tourism industry are at risk from this chemical and there is the potential that millions of dollars of lost profits will result if something is not done to turn things around.

Scientists who have experimented with atrazine have found it can induce changes in parts many times lower than the permitted levels. (Shenoy, 2009) For example, in the US, researchers Flynn and Spellman (2009) noticed that atrazine had an effect on the behaviour on the freshwater muscle species Elliptio complanata. The quantity of atrazine they were using was 30 times less than the legal limited set by the EPA.

The fact that triazines have been recorded in Hobart’s drinking water (Brown, 2009), in streams (Davies, Cook & Barton, 1994) and is still used in swimming pools to reduce fungal growth, should be of serious concern to the Tasmanian community. Health effects can sometimes show up several years after initial exposure to the chemical. Developing foetuses and children are especially at risk, since their endocrine systems are still undergoing development.

Like Rachel Carson, who warned of the potential effects of DDT in the 1960s and who was initially rebuffed by industry, government and scientists alike, Dr Alison Bleaney is warning the Tasmanian community of a very real and serious health threat. Unlike Rachel Carson, who had little other research to go by at the time, Dr Bleaney is backed by a large body of international literature and science that agrees atrazine is of serious health concern.

The fact that the European Union has already banned the use of triazines should spell out in clear and no-uncertain terms that this is a chemical that is not safe to be used. Scientific papers have shown that atrazine in biologically active in parts per trillion in the environment and in humans. If such tiny quantities are ‘active’, it suggests that this chemical is not safe to be used IN ANY quantity. This warrants a complete ban on the use of triazines in our state. If anyone is still in doubt of the potential health threat, it is important to remember that combinations of chemicals interacting in our bodies can often produce unexpected results, ie the toxicity of some chemicals are increased when mixed together. More than one scientific paper has revealed that atrazine has the potential to do just this. (Banks at Al, 2005; Anderson & Zhu, 2003)

To add weight to this argument, commercial applications of atrazine often contain a mix of chemicals that have the potential to be more toxic than atrazine alone due to their mutual interactions. (Zeljezic, Garaj-Vrhovac and Perkovic, 2006) All these chemicals are capable of making their way into drinking water and then into our bodies. Considering the vast array of chemicals that we are bombarded by, it would make sense to minimise exposure to those already known to be toxic, and certainly, to those that are known endocrine disruptors.

The Precautionary Principle is built into Australia’s most important environmental legislation including state and federal laws and is intended to be used as a proactive ‘common-sense’ tool for environmental decision-making. (Bates, 2006)

It makes logical sense to err of the side of caution when dealing with potentially damaging chemicals. The whole point of The Precautionary Principle is to proceed with caution where there is scientific uncertainty. This uncertainty should not be used as an excuse to continue gung-ho, business-as usual, but to stop and review practices and possible alternatives to a potentially damaging practice.

Such an approach could save millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money for an expensive clean-up operations and excess health bills in an old-fashioned reactionary approach to the problem. Tasmania should be leading the world in best-practice environmental decision-making. Instead it is lagging behind, in ignorance-is-bliss.

Such attitudes have resulted in some of the world’s worst environmental disasters including widespread spraying of DDT in the 1960s and 1970s, the endosulfan tragedy in Kerala, India, the Minamata bay disaster in Japan, the Banqiao dam disaster in China and countless others -It would be a shame if the same thing were to happen to our beautiful, clean, green Tasmania.

Unlike DDT, and some of the Persistant Organic Pollutants, (POPs), atrazine breaks down relatively quickly in the environment, so the good news is, if we ban it now, we will be able to stop it’s devastating effects in the future.

The fear of change and the financial loss in a switch to more sustainable practices, is no doubt the reason behind industry’s reluctance to address the issue. There are plenty of best-practice alternatives, including impilementation of different forestry methods. These would involve a significant shift from current methodology – something which the government should encourage as part of Tasmania’s sustainable development strategy.

Research into low-cost methods available for removal of atrazine from drinking water, have suggested the use of polycation-clay composites (Zadaka, 2009) or covalent bonding to piperazine functionalised HIPEs. (Pulko, Kolar and Krajne, 2007). This provides hope of a solution to the contamination.

It is important to remain solution-oriented in the approach to this issue. Rather than arguing over the particulars of toxicity and grey areas of so-called scientific fact, it would be more beneficial for all stakeholders involved if we worked on effective implementation of sustainable outcomes and a Triazine-free Tasmania.

© Malini Alexander March 16 2010

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