Tim Morris
THE TASMANIAN Greens today called for a ban on the herbicide Atrazine in Tasmania
NEW REPORT REVEALS ATRAZINE POISONS HUMANS
Evidence Mounting Against Dangerous Forestry Chemical
Tim Morris MP
Greens Shadow Forestry and Water Spokesperson
Thursday, 15 May 2008
www.tas.greens.org.au
THE TASMANIAN Greens today called for a ban on the herbicide Atrazine in Tasmania following the release of a new study from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), which revealed that “significant effects on human placental cells” occur after exposure to as little as 20 parts per billion (ppb) of Atrazine which is half the Australian Drinking Water Guideline limit of 40ppb Atrazine. [1]
The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) recently reviewed Atrazine and found that it was safe for continued registration and use in Australia, however at the time the APVMA also stated that should “…new lines of research generate legitimate areas of concern, the APVMA will initiate a new review.” [2]
Greens Shadow Forestry and Water Spokesperson Tim Morris MP said that the APVMA must re-review Atrazine given that this UCSF Study has completely contradicted the APVMA findings in such a significant manner, and following the revelation that senior UCSF study author Professor Holly Ingraham believes that Australia’s current Drinking Water Guideline of 40ppb Atrazine is “worrying”. [3]
“This study from UCSF is the first to identify the full effects of Atrazine on human cells, so we must take note of its worrying findings regarding the feminisation of juveniles and the disruption of human placental cells, and ban Atrazine from Tasmania until it can be proven safe for use around humans,” said Mr Morris. [4]
“Since 2001 there have been 246 instances of noxious chemicals detected in Tasmania’s waterways, the Lennon government has failed to publish 130 of these positive results, and Simazine and Atrazine which are both from the controversial Triazine family of herbicides made up 92 of the 130 unpublished test results.”
“There are serious questions about whether the Lennon government is deliberately withholding its water testing results and this study from UCSF now confirms that Premier Lennon is risking the health of Tasmanians, and the future health of their children and grandchildren, by allowing Atrazine to be sprayed across Tasmania and then seemingly deliberately failing to publish the related water contamination findings.”
“The UCSF study results are extremely troubling for those Tasmanians living anywhere near forestry plantations or private forestry activities, or drawing their drinking water from rural catchments, where Atrazine is still the herbicide of choice for private forestry operators, and where this disrupting herbicide still regularly shows up in drinking water contamination tests.”
“While the Greens are aware that Forestry Tasmania has ceased using Atrazine, and that private forestry users are now the main users of this noxious chemical, Forestry Tasmania still uses Simazine which is from the same triazine family of chemicals as Atrazine and which we also believe to be harmful to human health,” concluded Mr Morris.
For Further Information:
UCSF Study “The Herbicide Atrazine Activates Endocrine Gene Networks via Non-Steroidal NR5A Nuclear Receptors in Fish and Mammalian Cells”
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0002117
UCSF News Report: “Common herbicide disrupts human hormone activity in cell studies” http://pub.ucsf.edu/newsservices/releases/200805064/
[1] The Australian, 15 May 2008, Matthew Denholm, “Alarm at weed-kill chemical in water”:
Alarm at weed-kill chemical in water
[2] APVMA, 1 May 2008, “APVMA concludes its review of atrazine,” http://www.apvma.gov.au/media/mr0802/shtml
[3] The Australian, 15 May 2008, Matthew Denholm, “Alarm at weed-kill chemical in water”
[4] UCSF News Service, Wallace Ravven, 6 May 2008, “Common herbicide disrupts human hormone activity in cell studies,” http://pub.ucsf.edu/newsservices/releases/200805064/
And,
