Atrazine: What Regulators Say

Independent agencies and government authorities around the world have determined atrazine is safe to use.

“It is expected that the use of atrazine, consistent with good plant protection practice, will not have any harmful effects on human or animal health or any unacceptable effects on the environment.”
Comment from a science review conducted for the European Union Scientific Committee on Plants, United Kingdom, 1996

Atrazine is deemed “not classifiable as to carcinogenicity to humans,” placing it in the same cancer risk category as substances such as tea, rubbing alcohol and talc.
World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, 1998

“EPA concludes that atrazine is not likely to be a human carcinogen.”
US Environmental Protection Agency Revised Atrazine Interim Re-registration Eligibility Decision, October 31, 2003

“… the epidemiological data provided support for the absence of a carcinogenic potential for atrazine.”
Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority, 2004

“These and other additional analyses did not support a finding of association between prostate cancer and atrazine exposure.”
US EPA, 2004, in evaluating a study conducted with workers at an atrazine manufacturing plant.

“We found no associations between cancer incidence and atrazine exposure …”
Agricultural Health Study, 2003, 2004 and 2005 conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“The APVMA has not seen any direct evidence that current uses of atrazine pose a risk to human health. Indeed, extensive studies in laboratory animals show that there are no effects on health or reproduction in mammals maintained on drinking water containing atrazine and related compounds at low levels. Even at concentrations up to 100 times the levels that can sometimes be found in groundwater in the USA, laboratory test results indicate there were no toxic effects on the animals, their progeny or their ability to reproduce.”
Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority, Final Review Report & Regulatory Decision, Volume 1, 2008

“[I]t is unlikely that atrazine is an endocrine disruptor in humans.”
Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority, Final Review Report & Regulatory Decision, Volume 2, 2008