Josh Mogerman, Deputy Director, National Media, Chicago

It is planting time on central Illinois farms where millions of pounds of the controversial herbicide atrazine are being applied to corn fields. But the endocrine disrupting chemical is a bit more highly visible than usual in the region this year---likely to the chagrin of its Swiss manufacturer, Syngenta. I am sure they would prefer a lower profile, as they are in the midst of a highly contentious legal battle in eastern Illinois and facing a review of its productsby the EPA.

In my hometown, Springfield, the local utility thought they had eliminated the threat of atrazine in their drinking water years ago. In the 90’s runoff from agriculture around the capital city brought drinking water perilously close to federal violations and untreated water recorded atrazine spikes at 5-10 times allowable levels for drinking waters. To the city’s credit, they took the problem head on and invested the better part of a million dollars on new water filter technologies. But atrazine levels are again increasing in the lake that serves as the area’s drinking water reservoir, leaving the local utility to again spend tens of thousands of dollars on treatment---this time likely as a ...

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