Public Forum in Iowa on a Harmful Pesticide
Sunday, April 24, 3-5 p.m. in Iowa City

Defenders of Wildlife is urging you to attend a public forum on atrazine --
one of the most widely used corn herbicides in the United States. Atrazine
is known to be harmful to both people and wildlife yet more than 60 million
pounds are used annually in the U.S. In Iowa, more than 7 millions pounds
are applied each year. Despite its link to prostate cancer in humans and an
array of harmful impacts to wildlife, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency recently okayed its continued use.

The forum, entitled "Atrazine and Impacts on Human Health and Wildlife,"
will take place on SUNDAY, APRIL 24th from 3:00 to 5:00 PM and will present
the latest science and policy issues around atrazine to the public. A
one-hour presentation by Professor Tyrone B. Hayes, University of
California, Berkeley, will be followed by one-hour open discussion ("town
hall meeting"). The industry and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will
also be invited to express their points of view, concerning the policy and
continued use of atrazine, economic issues, environmental and public health
and conservation concerns.

The forum will be held at the University Life Centers located at 135 Iowa
Memorial Union at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

For more information please contact, Erin Conner at [log in to unmask] or
Tyrone Hayes at [log in to unmask]

BACKGROUND:
ATRAZINE AND IMPACTS ON HUMAN HEALTH AND WILDLIFE:
A PUBLIC FORUM

Atrazine, the most popular herbicide in the US, is the most common
contaminant of ground and surface water. Among other effects, atrazine
chemically castrates and feminizes exposed individuals by reducing levels of
the male hormone (testosterone) and increasing levels of the female hormone
(estrogen). In wildlife, this hormone imbalance results in demasculinization
and impaired fertility in males, feminization of males resulting in
hermaphroditic development, and reproductive abnormalities in females.
Multiple scientific studies from at least seven countries have supported
these findings in fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Effects
are not restricted to wildlife, and atrazine exposure is associated with low
sperm count, decreased fertility, and prostate cancer in men, and breast
cancer and spontaneous abortion in women, all effects supported by
experimental data in laboratory rats.

Atrazine has been outlawed in Europe and in fact has been regulated in
Switzerland (the home of the manufacturer, Syngenta) for several years.
Although some individual states are considering a ban on atrazine, the US
EPA has recently re-registered atrazine for use in the United States and has
given Syngenta as much as 15 years to continue to study effects that have
already been documented in the scientific literature. In this time, we will
apply 1.2 billion pounds of atrazine in the United States, of which
approximately 7.5 million pounds will return to earth in rainfall, 18
million pounds will flow into the Gulf of Mexico, and more than 5 billion
people will be exposed (1 million per day).

This message was forwarded from Defenders of Wildlife

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