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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9981 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9981

 To prohibit the use, production, sale, importation, or exportation of 
                   any pesticide containing atrazine.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 11, 2024

   Mr. Nadler (for himself, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Norton, and Ms. Adams) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                              Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To prohibit the use, production, sale, importation, or exportation of 
                   any pesticide containing atrazine.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Ban Atrazine Toxicants Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Atrazine is the second-most used herbicide in the 
        United States, with approximately 80,000,000 pounds used 
        annually.
            (2) Atrazine has been banned in the European Union since 
        2003, and in Italy and Germany since 1991 due to its long-term 
        persistence in the environment, toxicity to wildlife, and link 
        to adverse effects on human health.
            (3) Atrazine is highly persistent in the environment and 
        can remain in water for decades. Even after the European Union 
        banned the chemical over 2 decades ago, atrazine can still be 
        detected in groundwater.
            (4) Atrazine is one of the most commonly detected 
        pesticides in drinking water, groundwater, and surface water 
        across the nation. Approximately 75 percent of stream water and 
        about 40 percent of all groundwater samples from agricultural 
        areas tested in an extensive United States Geological Survey 
        study contained atrazine.
            (5) The United States Geological Sruvey has found that 
        atrazine is the most frequently detected of all herbicides in 
        urban streams.
            (6) Atrazine is detected in rainwater, fog, ambient air, 
        arctic ice, and seawater at great distances from urban and 
        agricultural areas.
            (7) Studies have also concluded that approximately 217-642 
        tons of atrazine is annually deposited the Gulf of Mexico from 
        the Mississippi River Basin.
            (8) Atrazine's impacts on human health are well documented 
        in the scientific literature. Exposure to atrazine can cause 
        elevated cancer risks, heightened risks of birth defects, and 
        significant reproductive impacts. Birth defects are associated 
        with atrazine, including chroanal atresis, stenosis, and 
        gastrochisis.
            (9) Farmworkers and rural populations who are most often 
        exposed may suffer reproductive harms such as low sperm count 
        and motility, while general exposure in conjunction with other 
        pesticides increases risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in men.
            (10) Atrazine is highly toxic to wildlife and causes 
        adverse endocrine impacts in amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and 
        birds, including impaired reproduction, lowered reproductive 
        output, disrupted development, and immunosuppression. Exposure 
        to atrazine at levels as low as 0.1 parts per billion have been 
        shown to harm the development of eggs in male frogs. Atrazine 
        increases stress hormones in immature salmon leading to high 
        mortality rates and low reproductive success.
            (11) The Environmental Protection Agency found in 2022 that 
        atrazine is likely to adversely affect 1,013 threatened and 
        endangered species, or 56 percent of all endangered plants and 
        animals in the nation, including the whooping crane, California 
        red-legged frog, and the San Joaquin kit fox.
            (12) The United States Department of Agriculture concluded 
        that banning atrazine would only lead to a 1.19-percent 
        decrease in corn yields.
            (13) A 2007 study found that neither Germany nor Italy, 
        both of which are corn-producing nations, reported drops in 
        corn yields following their 1991 ban on atrazine.

SEC. 3. CANCELLATION OF REGISTRATION OF ATRAZINE.

    Section 6 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide 
Act (7 U.S.C. 136d) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(l) Cancellation of Registration of Atrazine.--
            ``(1) In general.--
                    ``(A) Cancellation.--Effective on the date of the 
                enactment of this subsection--
                            ``(i) atrazine shall be deemed to generally 
                        cause unreasonable adverse effects to humans; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) notwithstanding any other provision 
                        of law, including subsection (b), the 
                        registration of all uses of atrazine shall be 
                        immediately and permanently canceled by 
                        operation of law and without further 
                        proceedings.
                    ``(B) Revocation of tolerances and exemptions.--Not 
                later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this 
                subsection, the Administrator shall, in accordance with 
                section 408(b)(1)(B) of the Federal Food, Drug, and 
                Cosmetic Act, revoke any tolerance or exemption that 
                allows the presence of atrazine, or any pesticide 
                chemical residue that results from atrazine use, in or 
                on food.
            ``(2) Sale of existing stocks prohibited.--In accordance 
        with subsection (a)(1), effective on the date of enactment of 
        this subsection, the continued sale or use of existing stocks 
        of atrazine shall be prohibited.
            ``(3) No future atrazine registrations.--Effective on the 
        date of the enactment of this subsection, the Administrator may 
        not register any pesticide containing atrazine under section 4.
            ``(4) Ineligibility for emergency use.--Notwithstanding any 
        other provision of law, a pesticide canceled under this section 
        shall not be eligible for use under section 18.
            ``(5) Definition.--In this subsection, the term `atrazine' 
        refers to the pesticide chemical 2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-
        isopropylamino-1,3,5-triazine.''.
                                 <all>
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