For over a year, we at PAN have been watching EPA’s long-overdue review of atrazine, a common herbicide that’s been linked to birth defects, hormone disruption and cancer. You may have heard about this chemical – it’s the one that scientists have found can turn male frogs into females at astonishingly low levels.

From the outset we’ve pressed the agency’s panel of scientists to rely on studies not funded by industry. Unfortunately, that’s not exactly how it’s played out.

Syngenta’s atrazine

A bit of backstory’s in order. The company that makes atrazine, the Syngenta Corporation, has shown time and again they are serious and unscrupulous in their commitment to protect atrazine’s market share in the U.S.  This despite the fact that this pesticide has already been banned in Switzerland, where the company is based.

Last time EPA reviewed atrazine back in 2003,  Syngenta lobbied the agency with over 50 closed door meetings in the run-up to that decision. As a result, today 94% our drinking water is contaminated with this chemical.

Fast forward to the current review of atrazine’s health and environmental effects, launched two years ago in response to a slew of new science. The bad news? Of the roughly 25 health-related studies submitted for the scientists to consider in the panel’s final session, 10 were not available to the public and exempt from the rigors of peer review. Oh, and these 10 ‘secret’ studies were industry-funded.

Corporate science is skewed

When Dr. Jason Rohr, an independent scientist from University of South Florida, took a look at industry-funded reviews of the effects of atrazine on fish and frogs, this is what he found:

[The] industry-funded review misrepresented more than 50 studies and included 122 inaccurate and 22 misleading statements. Of these inaccurate and misleading statements, 96.5% seem to benefit the makers of atrazine in that they support the safety of the chemical.

This time must be different » Urge EPA to discount and disclose the corporate science backing atrazine. Sign PAN’s petition before Monday, November 14th and help us tell EPA that this time around, we’re watching, and we expect the agency to follow independent, unbiased science.