Atrazine and simazine banned in the EU but ‘essential uses’ remain in the UK 

Atrazine and simazine have failed the EU review process because of the continuing risk they pose to groundwater and the length of time needed for groundwater recovery¹.

Atrazine use has been the subject of controversy on both sides of the Atlantic for quite some time. Alongside concern over groundwater contamination, studies have linked atrazine exposure to prostate cancer and sexual abnormalities in frogs². While the EU has finally reached a decision over atrazine, the ‘special review’ being carried out by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) still continues.
    Atrazine use had already been banned or restricted in a number of EU member states. Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France and Norway have banned it while Austria has cancelled its licence and Belgium and Slovenia have restricted its use. Simazine was already banned in Norway, Belgium and France. This ban will now be extended to all member states of the EU.
    However, the days of atrazine and simazine use are not completely over in the UK. The EU review process makes allowance for situations in which growers indicate they cannot successfully grow a crop without a particular pesticide. In these cases the use is considered essential and an exemption or derogation is given. So while atrazine will no longer be used on maize grown for fodder (the major use of atrazine in the UK), its use on sweet corn and in forestry will still be allowed. Simazine has ‘essential uses’ in beans, asparagus, rhubarb and hardy ornamental nursery stock.
    Syngenta, the main manufacturer of these triazine herbicides already markets chemical alternatives (S-metolachlor + terbuthylazine, or S-metolachlor + terbuthylazine + mesotrione) in some EU countries and will undoubtedly move to introduce these products in the UK. 

Glufosinate-resistant maize failing to reduce atrazine use in the US
In 1997 the glufosinate-resistant Liberty Link maize was introduced in the US. Supporters of genetic modification (GM) technology argued that Liberty Link maize would circumvent the need to use atrazine which is otherwise ubiquitously sprayed on maize crops: weed control on Liberty Link maize would be achieved using a single application of glufosinate (marketed as Liberty). This broad-spectrum herbicide did not have the troubled history of atrazine, and, growing this maize would allow farmers to replace this controversial herbicide with one considered more benign. 
    However, as far back as 1996, trials have indicated that Liberty’s ability to control weeds ranges from mediocre to poor³. Farmers planting Liberty Link maize either have to spray twice with Liberty or once with a mix containing both Liberty and atrazine⁴. And it seems that most farmers are choosing the labour-saving option of spraying once with the mix. Indeed, Bayer has recently marketed a new pesticide formulation, Liberty ATZ, an atrazine/glufosinate mixture⁵. 
    One of the strongest arguments supporting introduction of GM crops has been their much-trumpeted potential to reduce applications of hazardous pesticides. Once again the reality has failed to match the hype. (RM)

1. Atrazine and simazine use to end in EU. Agrow 434, 2003, p6.
2. Pesticide News No.57, p16.
3. B. Bean and M. Rowland, Weed Control in Liberty Link Corn 1996 to 1999, http://soilcrop.tamu.edu/publications/pubs/demo.pdfTexas Agricultural Extension Service, US.
4. Susan Watts, BBC2 Newsnight, 25 June 2003.
5. Liberty ATZ, Bayer Fact Sheet www.agscoinc.com/infosheets/Liberty_ATZ_5-03.pdf

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 62, December 2003, page 19]