Biden proposes raising acceptable threshold for common agricultural pesticide

The Biden administration is proposing to raise a key threshold determining how much of a pesticide that’s commonly used in the agriculture industry the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finds concerning in the environment — spurring ire from some environmental advocates. 

The agency currently considers an average of just 3.4 micrograms per liter of the pesticide atrazine to be an acceptable level.

But a proposal released this week raises that level up to 9.7 micrograms — saying nearly three times as much of the substance is OK to be present in the environment. 

Under the draft plan, actions will need to be taken to mitigate potential impacts when levels in the environment exceed the 9.7 microgram level.

Lori Ann Burd, environmental health program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, slammed the proposal. 

“Atrazine is so toxic, even in microscopic amounts, and so extremely persistent, that effective mitigation is just impossible,” Burd said in a written statement. 

“But the EPA keeps bending over backward to accommodate growers who insist on drenching our nation’s food, fiber and fuel with atrazine at the expense of public health and the environment,” she added. 

Atrazine is used on many U.S. crops, including corn and sugarcane. It has been banned in the European Union and several other countries and has been found to disrupt the endocrine system. 

When the EPA previously signaled it would update the safety threshold for atrazine in July, the agency said it did so after examining 11 studies with its independent Scientific Advisory Panel and later reevaluating two additional studies. 

The Biden administration’s move is just a proposal. It’s unclear what will happen to atrazine under the incoming Trump administration. In 2020, the prior Trump administration raised the safety threshold even higher — to 15 micrograms per liter. 

However, the substance has also come under attack from right-wing figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom President-elect Trump nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Kennedy has suggested that atrazine can cause “sexual changes” in children. Experts told CNN that this is not true.