Time to Ban Triazine Herbicides in Tasmania

The Tasmanian Greens today again called on the Bartlett Government to ban the use of the Triazine group of herbicides in Tasmania after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it plans to conduct a new study into the health risks of Atrazine, based on a series of scientific papers that maintain Atrazine in drinking water is associated with birth defects, low birth weights, and reproductive abnormalities at levels below Australia’s current allowable standards. [1]

Greens Health spokesperson Cassy O’Connor MP said Triazine herbicides have been detected in more than 20 Tasmanian rivers and drinking water catchments and Atrazine was recently detected in groundwater at Port Arthur and at Ross.

“The Health Minister continues to pretend there’s no link between the unchecked, increased use of Triazine chemicals in Tasmania and the fact that we have the highest rates of cancer and chronic disease in Australia. She needs to get her head around the science, as the US EPA is currently doing,” said Ms O’Connor.

“The US EPA is planning a new study because the evidence against Atrazine continues to mount, and it is also becoming apparent that their failure to properly investigate and regulate this toxic poison in the past was due more to the Presidency of George W. Bush than anything else. It seems that the health and safety of Tasmanians is now based on ignorant policies set by the worst US President in history.” [2]

“Linda Birnbaum, from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, which is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, says ‘[t]here is growing evidence that Atrazine could be a hazard to human health’”. [3]

“When questioned about this in Parliament this morning, Lara Giddings stated that one of the reasons the European Union moved to ban Atrazine was because it was contaminating groundwater supplies. She appears completely unaware that Atrazine was recently detected in groundwater at Ross and Port Arthur.”

“Cancer rates in Tasmania have jumped by 30 percent in the last 25 years, and the widespread spraying of Triazines, which are regularly found in Tasmanian drinking water supplies, must be having some effect on our cancer rates.”

“Six states in the USA – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi and Ohio – have sued the makers of Atrazine in an attempt to force them to pay the very high costs associated with removing this poison from their drinking water. But when Atrazine is detected in Tasmanian drinking water supplies at levels above those set down in even weak national regulations, our Health Minister defends the status quo.”

“The Bartlett Government needs to stop prioritising the convenience of farmers and forestry interests over the health of Tasmanians.

“Lara Giddings is responsible for the health of Tasmanians, and she must pull her head out of the sand, acknowledge the risks that Triazine herbicides represent, and move to ban the use of Triazines in Tasmania,” said Ms O’Connor.

References:

[1] “Regulators Plan to Study Risks of Atrazine,” New York Times, Charles Duhigg, October 7 2009,

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/
business/energy-environment/07water.html?_r=1&hp ]

[2] “The decision [to re-assess the safety of Atrazine] by E.P.A.’s administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, who took over the agency in January, is a significant departure from the policies of the E.P.A. under President.”

[“Regulators Plan to Study Risks of Atrazine,” New York Times, Charles Duhigg, October 7 2009,

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/
business/energy-environment/07water.html?_r=1&hp ]

[3] ibid.

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Cassy O’Connor MP Greens Health Spokesperson