Atrazine At Center Of Class Action Suit
March 15, 2010 After plaintiffs’ attorneys filed a federal lawsuit last week in the Southern District of Illinois, Kurtis B. Reeg, attorney for defendant Syngenta Crop Protection, said another frivolous atrazine lawsuit only harms U.S. farmers.
“In these tough economic times, one may wonder why anyone – other than class action lawyers – would seek to destroy what EPA estimates is a $2 billion annual economic benefit to the nation, and all of the jobs that go with it,” Reeg said. “This lawsuit has no merit because we know from EPA-mandated testing that no water systems since 2005 have exceeded the annual average guidance for atrazine. We intend to defend ourselves vigorously.”
Atrazine is a widely-used herbicide in the U.S. and 60 countries around the world to help grow crops including corn, sorghum, and sugar cane. EPA re-registered atrazine in 2006, stating it would cause no harm to the general population.
“Everyone should bear in mind that if a 150-pound adult drank literally thousands of gallons of water with atrazine at three parts-per-billion every day for 70 years, she still would not reach the exposure level at which no adverse impact has been detected in the laboratory,” Reeg said. “This suit is no surprise, as the same plaintiffs’ attorneys who have been trying a wasteful case in Madison County, IL, have been shopping this around for years. We know these communities are strapped for cash, and suing companies to upgrade their decades-old water systems may seem like an easy way to raise money, but it only harms local farmers who rely on these safely-regulated crop protection tools for their livelihood and to help cost-effectively feed a quickly growing consumer public.”
Source: Reeg Lawyers LLC
