"Atrazine: The Latest Pesticide on Trial"

"With California working to list atrazine as toxic to the reproductive system, three of the United States' most-widely used pesticides are under fire for adverse health effects."

"The state of California has been working to list atrazine — the United States’ second most-widely used herbicide — as toxic to the reproductive system under the state’s Proposition 65, which requires public warnings to be posted when and where such chemicals are used. Now, a court decision coming as soon as January will determine how the state will move forward with the listing.

This is a big deal. And it comes at a time when several top herbicides are under fire. In March, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate—the active ingredient in the pesticide Roundup—as a probable human carcinogen. In August, IARC declared that 2,4-D, is probably carcinogenic to humans. And earlier this month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdrew its approval of a new herbicide called Enlist Duo, which combines glyphosate and 2,4-D.

These are the nation’s most used agricultural chemicals. If you buy conventional groceries, the odds are very good that you’ve eaten food from fields where they have been sprayed. Between them, glyphosate, atrazine, and 2,4-D are used on nearly all of the corn and soy grown in the U.S. as well as on many other crops, including fruit, vegetables, nuts, and wheat."

Elizabeth Grossman reports for Civil Eats December 22, 2015.