Atrazine Background | Pesticides | US EPA

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/atrazine_background.htm[4/24/2015 9:30:13 AM]

You are here: EPA Home Pesticides About Pesticides Fact Sheets Regulatory Actions Atrazine Background

Pesticides: Topical & Chemical Fact Sheets

Recent Additions | Contact Us Search: All EPA This Area

Resources

Questions On Pesticides?

National Pesticide

 Information Center (NPIC)

 1-800-858-7378 

Atrazine Background

Use Profile

Atrazine is a triazine herbicide registered for the control of

broadleaf weeds and some grassy weeds.

Atrazine controls weeds by inhibiting photosynthesis.

Uses include:

corn (field and sweet) summer fallow

sorghum forestry or woodlands

sugarcane conifers

wheat (application to wheat stubble on fallow land

 following harvest) woody ornamentals

guava Christmas trees

macadamia nuts sod

hay residential and recreational turf (parks, golf

 courses)

pasture

Top of page

Atrazine is estimated to be the most heavily used herbicide in the U.S. Its top agricultural

 use areas in terms of use per acre include the midwest, particularly Iowa, Illinois, Indiana,

 Ohio, and Nebraska, and Delaware

.

Atrazine's use on lawns is mainly in Florida and the Southeast.

Estimated 76.4 million pounds are applied annually.

Usage on corn accounts for approximately 86% of total U.S. domestic usage (in

 pounds), followed by sorghum at 10% and sugarcane at 3% (all other uses take up

 the remaining 1%).

Approximately 75% of the field corn acreage grown in the U.S. is treated with

 atrazine.

Atrazine formulations include emulsifiable concentrate, flowable concentrate, water

 dispersable granular (dry flowable), soluble concentrate, wettable powder, granular, and as

 a ready-to-use formulation

Application methods include groundboom sprayer, aircraft, tractor-drawn spreader,

Pesticides Home

Fact Sheets Home

Health & Safety

Specific Chemicals

Regulatory Actions
Atrazine Background | Pesticides | US EPA

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/atrazine_background.htm[4/24/2015 9:30:13 AM]

EPA Home Privacy and Security Notice Contact Us

 rights-of-way sprayer, hand-held sprayers, backpack sprayer, lawn handgun, pushtype

spreader, and bellygrinder.

Atrazine is the most commonly detected pesticide in surface water. Atrazine's frequent

 detection in streams, rivers, groundwater, and reservoirs is related directly to both its

 volume of usage, and its tendency to persist in soils and move with water.

Top of page

Human Health Risk Information

Atrazine has low acute toxicity.

Based on all the available test data, the Agency's evaluation, and scientific peer review,

 atrazine is not likely to be a human carcinogen.

Our analysis has determined that atrazine does not pose any risk from food.

Our concern for atrazine reflects potential hormonal effects observed in laboratory animals

 associated with shorter term exposure.

Atrazine and three of its metabolites are found in water. These three metabolites are

 chlorinated atrazine compounds, desethylated atrazine (DEA), desisopropyl atrazine (DIA),

 and diaminochlorotriazine (DACT - the terminal degradate).

History of regulating atrazine

Atrazine first registered in 1958

Groundwater mitigation (1990)

Surface water mitigation (1992)

Special Review initiated under FIFRA (1994)

Additional surface water mitigation (1996)

Revised cancer characterization (2000)

NRDC consent decree (2000 & 2001)

Preliminary risk assessments (2001)

Revised risk assessments (2002)

Interim Reregistration Eligibility Decision (2003)

Amended IRED with consideration of ecological issues, including amphibians (scheduled for

 October 31, 2003)

Atrazine is also regulated under water statutes

Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 3.0 ppb was established in 1991 (Safe Drinking

 Water Act)

MCL will be reevaluated as part of EPA's National Primary Drinking Water Standards

 6-year review of regulated contaminants

Draft water quality criteria for aquatic life were published for comment in 2002 (Clean

 Water Act)

Top of page

Publications | Glossary | A-Z Index | Jobs