This results in approximately 105,000 acres of corn in Colorado being treated annually with cyanazine. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has reached an agreement with DuPont Agricultural Products of Wilmington, Del., to phase out over the next four years the production of the pesticide cyanazine for use in the United States. DuPont is the sole manufacturer and principal registrant of the technical ingredient cyanazine in the United States. EPA has classified cyanazine as a possible human carcinogen. The review is based on the Agency's concern that long term exposure to these pesticides in food and drinking water may pose a risk of cancer.
Studies indicate that cyanazine causes cancer in laboratory animals.
In addition, persons exposed through mixing, loading and applying this pesticide may also be at risk of cancer. Numerous ground water and surface water studies have shown the presence of the triazines in drinking water, especially during the spring and summer in Midwest agricultural areas. The Special Review of atrazine and simazine will continue. Cyanazine is a herbicide used on corn, cotton and sorghum to control broadleaf weeds and grasses. An estimated 95 percent is used on corn.