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Apr. 29, 2010 Source: CropLife America news release CropLife America (CLA) joined a number of organizations to voice the importance of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) using sound science in determining the safety of public drinking water. CLA president and CEO Jay Vroom spoke before the FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) during an April 27 hearing on the herbicide atrazine in water to address CLA concern that EPA may be considering a possible new process for analyzing drinking water safety. Vroom recognized that EPA's federal drinking water program establishes wide safety margins for allowable detection levels of crop protection products, and urged the EPA and SAP to focus their attention on what the public actually consumes -- finished drinking water. "This is not only protective of public health but it also assures that resources can be applied to the most effective and efficient points of oversight and regulation," said Vroom. EPA appears to be asking the SAP for recommendations on including broader monitoring of raw water from surface water bodies in consideration of the human health effects of atrazine, contradicting the robust scientific monitoring process already established and in practice under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Humans consume only the finished water flowing from community water systems, not the raw water going into those systems. "For a number of scientific and practical reasons that EPA itself has addressed, it is inappropriate to needlessly expand the monitoring of pesticide levels in raw water in an attempt to determine potential human health effects associated with the consumption of finished drinking water," said Vroom. "The science-based regulatory structure already established under SDWA that governs safe levels in drinking water assures consumers that their water is safe to drink." Vroom also noted that atrazine levels, just as with other crop protection products detected in water, have shown wide margins of safety over many years based upon the most intensive monitoring in the history of pesticide regulation. "No community water system has exceeded EPA's level of concern for 90-day average atrazine levels in raw water in seven years," he continued. In addition, by relying upon data from raw water, the potential for public alarm over findings of water safety increases. The scientific process under SDWA currently helps provide the public with accurate and informative health risk information based on public drinking water. By including broader reporting of residue analysis from raw water, which is not consumed by the public, consumers may potentially misinterpret findings on the safety of drinking water and assume false allegations on the safety of their water. The FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel on atrazine meets during four days in the week of April 26 in Washington, D.C., and is one of a series of new SAP meetings initiated by the new EPA leadership in 2009. Other organizations who spoke before the SAP during public comment sessions included representatives of the atrazine registrant Sygnenta, and organizations representing farmers, community water systems, and the environmental activist community. For more information on CLA's comments submitted to the SAP, visit www.croplifeamerica.org. Tweet |
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