Atrazine is an endocrine disrupting chemical found in weed killer. It’s used extensively in the United States on commercially grown crops such as corn, sorghum and soybeans and by farmers on all crops nationally. It’s also used on residential lawns by lawn care maintenance companies, in municipal parks, golf courses and highway medians.
Atrazine is the second most applied weed killer next to glyphosate (Roundup), which is number one. In areas where large scale commercial farming is taking place, Atrazine has already contaminated the groundwater.
Due to its scientifically proven harmful effects on human life, Atrazine has been banned by ALL other countries except the United States.
Atrazine disrupts the endocrine-signaling-pathways and the conversion of hormones to enzymes, specifically the aromatase pathway. This not only throws the balance of hormones off, increasing the likelihood of breast cancer, but it also creates a situation that counteracts chemotherapy drugs and makes them less effective.
The info I’ve found on Atrazine is complex and quite frankly really scary. Further, in depth reading can be found here and here.
You may have heard about the experiments done by Tyrone Hayes and his team. His studies showed that frogs exposed to atrazine actually change sex from male to female, yikes...watch his Ted Talk for all the details of his research.
WAYS TO AVOID EXPOSURE
- People that apply atrazine are at the greatest risk of exposure and should take extreme measures when using.
- Find out if your municipality uses Atrazine in local parks, ask for the spraying schedule. Avoid these areas while being sprayed and follow manufacturer's information for safe reentry.
- Do not use lawn services for your home, that spray Atrazine.
- Avoid processed packaged items that contain corn, sorghum or soy products. This also applies to pet food.
- Use water filtration systems if your home uses a well and you live near farms that are spraying Atrazine.
- Golf courses are extremely toxic so if you're a golfer, here are some steps you can take: talk to the lawn crew at your golf course, find out their spraying schedule and choose to golf on different days. Always wash your hands after golfing and wear gloves to prevent the transfer of toxic chemicals from your ball and clubs to your skin. Do not bring golf clubs and shoes into your home, instead leave them in a garage or car and wash them often.
NEXT STEP
Please share this valuable information with others. Especially those who are trying to get pregnant, are pregnant, have small children or have/had Breast Cancer.
What steps are you taking to protect yourself and your family from Atrazine?
Share your wins with us in the comments.