Pesticides - Giustina Update

We feel certain that OTA's letter, contact with the media, and the letters from the concerned residents in the Fox Hollow area had something to do with it.

Unfortunately, we can't say this is a complete victory. Instead of Atrazine, Giustina will be using Sulfoneturon Methyl and Hexazinon - a couple of pesticides with their own side-effects. Still, it is an improvement over the use of Atrazine and, more importantly, it shows that we can make a difference.

OTA will continue to work toward eliminating the unnecessary use of pesticides. We will continue to fight for clean air, water, and land. And we will challenge practices that harm the residents of Oregon.

If you are a resident of lands that are sprayed by timber interests – please take a moment and join OTA. Our work to protect under-represented rural residents needs your support. With you as our partner, we can continue to alert the media, provide research and support for impacted Oregonians and build on our success at the Oregon Legislature. Watch for bills that protect children from pesticides in the upcoming legislative session!

Atrazine's Dark History

The federal government first approved Atrazine in the 1950s, but it came under increased scrutiny in the late 1990s. Tyrone B. Hayes, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California at Berkeley, did a series of studies - first for chemical companies and then on his own - that indicated that tiny amounts of the pesticide demasculinized frogs. The European Union declared Atrazine a harmful "endocrine disrupter" and banned it as of 2005, but the US EPA decided to allow its continued use in the United States. Nancy Golden, a biologist and toxicologist at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who studies how chemicals affect aquatic creatures, said fish exposed to as little as 0.5 parts per billion of Atrazine in the lab demonstrate behavioral problems.