{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/officials-farm-interests-push-back-on-atrazine-study-", "Officials, farm interests push back on atrazine study", "2016-10-11", "2016", "2016-10", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Officials, farm interests push back on atrazine study  \r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                Tuesday, October 11, 2016\r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\r\n            \r\n            \r\n                  \r\n                    By:\u00a0\r\n                    Ken Newton\r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                \r\n                \r\n                \r\n            A herbicide named atrazine has been commonplace on Midwestern farms nearly six decades and a target of environmental groups for a period short of that.\r\nAgricultural interests and state officials in Missouri and Kansas have pushed back against a draft ecological risk assessment that could prohibit or limit the use of atrazine and similar products.\r\nMissouri Sen. Claire McCaskill has been among the lawmakers taking note of the impact such an Environmental Protection Agency restriction could have on her constituents.\r\nIn a recent letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, the Democratic senator urged collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in determining a final assessment.\r\n\u201c(The USDA) must have a seat at the table when something as vital to farmers as atrazine is being discussed,\u201d McCaskill wrote to the EPA head. \u201cAdditionally, USDA is the agency with the most relevant information about how atrazine is used in real world applications.\u201d\r\nThe senator also said the EPA must act, in accordance with federal law, to \u201cgive appropriate weight to the benefits\u201d of atrazine and appoint an impartial scientific panel to offer a peer-reviewed evaluation.\r\nAtrazine, one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States since being approved in 1958, kills broadleaf and grassy weeds. Along with applications on golf courses and residential lawns, it is largely employed on the Midwest\u2019s corn fields.\r\nIn a five-year average ending in 2015, Missouri farmers harvested more than 3.2 million acres of corn annually. Missouri exported more than $371 million in corn in 2014.\r\nKansas farmers harvested about 4 million acres of corn in 2015. That state\u2019s attorney general, Derek Schmidt, and agriculture secretary, Jackie McClaskey, filed a comment with the EPA last week regarding the draft risk assessment.\r\nRestrictions on atrazine, the officials said, would \u201cdirectly and negatively affect thousands of Kansas farmers by increasing the costs of production, reducing yield and harming profitability while producing no meaningful environmental benefit.\u201d\r\nRunoff of atrazine into surface and ground water has been a subject of environmental concern for years. These tainted water supplies have been linked in various studies to human health problems and ecological risks.\r\nAccording to the EPA risk assessment, released for public comment in April, \u201clevels of concern for chronic risk are exceeded by as much as 22, 198 and 62 times for birds, mammals and fish, respectively.\u201d\r\nMorris Heitman of Mound City, Missouri, the immediate past president of the Missouri Corn Growers Association, said this summer that implementation of atrazine restrictions would have serious consequences for farmers.\r\n\u201cIn our area of Northwest Missouri, we estimate the price tag of replacing atrazine with another product would be $35 an acre over current production costs, without the guarantee of effective weed management,\u201d he said. \u201cIn today\u2019s market, that is enough to take the ledger from black to red.\u201d\r\nThe public comment period, which ended last week, drew nearly 61,000 responses. The EPA study is part of a periodic and required re-evaluation process for registered commercial chemicals. No timetable is available for a decision on the renewed registration.\r\n            \r\n             \r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/officials-farm-interests-push-back-on-atrazine-study-"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9111589752137661, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}