Laboratory research is showing that widely used agricultural chemicals, such as the herbicide
atrazine, can have epigenetic effects that affect the health of future generations.
In 2015,
atrazine was found in water systems serving nearly 30 million Americans in 27 states, according to a new report by the Washington D.C.-based Environmental Working Group.
The environment minister warned that similar incidents of contamination could reoccur due to herbicide use in the past.The Water Policy Institute has filed a criminal complaint against an unknown perpetrator for the contamination of ground water with
atrazine in the Zitny Ostrov area in south-western Slovakia, alleging environmental harm and a threat to human health.
Descoberto Lake was previously investigated for the presence of caffeine,
atrazine, atenolol, and DEET, an active ingredient in insect repellents [17].
For the experiment with 7 herbicides applied in pre-emergence,
atrazine (D = 2500 g [ha.sup.-1]),
atrazine + mesotrione (D = 1200 + 120 g [ha.sup.-1]),
atrazine + simazine (D = 250 + 250 g [ha.sup.-1]), isoxaflutole (D = 60 g [ha.sup.-1]), pendimenthalin (D = 1500 g [ha.sup.-1]), trifluralin (D = 2400 g [ha.sup.-1]) e s-metolachlor (D = 1400 g [ha.sup.-1]) were evaluted.
atrazine (triazine), metolachlor (chloroacetanilide), carbaryl (carbamate), and chlorothalonil (chloronitrile) have high usage rates (Solomon et al., 1996), are prevalent in streams (Larson et al, 1999), and co-occur more often as mixtures than as individual pesticides (Gilliom, 2007).
Atrazine (6-chloro-N-ethyl-N-isopropyl-1,3,5 -triazinediyl-2,4-diamine; (IUPAC) has become one of the most widely used as a selective pre-emergence and post-emergence herbicide for the control of weeds in a variety of agricultural crops [11].
Atrazine, a restricted-use, triazine herbicide used to inhibit the growth of broadleaf and grassy weeds in the production of corn and other crops, is one of the most commonly used pesticides in the U.S., with approximately 75 million pounds used in 1997 and nearly 80 million pounds used in 2007 (Grube, Donaldson, Kiely, & Wu, 2011; Kiely, Donaldson, & Grube, 2004).
The insecticide fipronil and the herbicide
atrazine are used in the soil preparation and planting stages of sugarcane crops and are applied directly to the soil.
The state's report says residents who were tested "showed elevated levels of
atrazine and 2,4-D in their urine."
recently reported that the herbicide
atrazine was able to exert an estrogen-like proliferative activity in various cell models, including ovarian and breast cancer cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts, by inducing the expression of several estrogen target genes without binding to or activating the classical estrogen receptor (ER) [alpha].
The field experiments were carried out with 11 treatments, which lies with alachlor 1.5 kg /ha PE ([T.sub.1]);
atrazine 1.0 kg/ha PE (T2); alachlor 1.0 kg/ha EPE (15 DAS) ([T.sub.3]); metrbuzin 0.75 kg/ha PE ([T.sub.4]); metrbuzin 0.25 kg/ha EPE (15 DAS) ([T.sub.5]); alachlor 0.75 kg/ha + metrbuzin 0.375 kg/ha (tank-mix PE) (T6);
atrazine 0.75 kg/ha + pendimethalin 0.5 kg/ha (tank-mix PE) ([T.sub.7]);
atrazine 0.5 kg/ha + 2,4-D 0.5 kg/ha POE ([T.sub.8]); brown manuring (Sesbania @ 20 kg/ha+ 2,4-D 0.5 kg/ha at 30 DAS) ([T.sub.9]); weedy check ([T.sub.10]); and weed-free check ([T.sub.11]).
atrazine - a synthetic compound derived from triazine that is widely used as an agricultural herbicide; "atrazine is thought to cause cancer and is banned in some European countries"