Formula-Fed Infants Exposed to Atrazine
October 5, 1999
A recent report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) states
that the herbicide atrazine is polluting tap water in almost 800
Midwestern communities. EWG found that the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has seriously underestimated atrazine
exposure for infants fed formula mixed with this tap water.
Atrazine, the most heavily used herbicide in the U.S., is applied to 50
million acres of corn, and it enters drinking water supplies through
runoff. Many water utilities serving major cities have begun using
powdered activated carbon systems, reducing but not necessarily
eliminating herbicides in drinking water. In smaller communities, water
utilities often lack the resources for sophisticated filtration systems of
this sort.
EWG analyzed over 127,000 tap water test results for the years 1993
through 1998 from seven Midwestern states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas. The group found atrazine
residues in tap water delivered to 10.4 million people in 796 towns. In
some communities the lifetime cancer risk from average atrazine
concentrations is more than 20 times higher than EPA safety standards.
Peak daily atrazine exposures in tap water have been measured as high
as 42 parts per billion (ppb), 14 times the legally allowed annual
average amount.
The Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), passed in 1996, requires all
pesticide exposures to be safe for infants and children. According to the
deadlines established by FQPA, health standards for atrazine and other
high-risk pesticides were to be revised according to these guidelines by
August 3, 1999. However, the EPA has not adhered to this deadline,
announcing this year that new regulatory limits for atrazine in tap water
will not be proposed until 2001. This failure by the EPA to enforce
FQPA puts more than 18,000 bottle-fed infants at serious risk each
year, according to EWG's analysis.
EPA safety standards rest on the incorrect assumption that a bottle-fed
newborn drinks the same amount of tap water relative to its body
weight as an adult. In fact, for a mother to get the same dose of atrazine
in relation to her body weight as a bottle-fed baby, she would have to
drink three and a half gallons of tap water a day.
Using the amount of atrazine a bottle-fed infant receives, EWG
estimated the cancer risk accumulation during the first years of life. For
138 of the communities considered, EWG found that by age five
children will exceed EPA's lifetime allowable dose of atrazine. In 40
towns, bottle-fed infants exceed their legally allowable lifetime cancer
risk from atrazine by their first birthday. In Kansas City, Kansas,
bottle-fed infants can receive their legal lifetime dose by just over eight
months of age while in some other towns, babies receive their lifetime
dose in their first four months.
Even these figures are likely to be understated, because they are based
on toxicity studies on adult animals, which would not reveal special
susceptibilities of fetuses, infants and children.
Producers of infant formula remove a large proportion of herbicide
contaminants from water used to make liquid infant formulas.
However, few of the communities with herbicide-contaminated tap
water can afford the water treatment processes these companies use. In
Columbus, Ohio, the manufacturer of the infant formula Similac
purifies tap water using advanced filtration and separation processes. A
child fed dehydrated Similac and other formulas reconstituted with
Columbus tap water, however, would reach his or her legal lifetime
limit for cancer risk from atrazine in less than five years.
EWG points out that the economic burden of controlling atrazine
exposure falls on water utilities, while the herbicide's manufacturer
takes no responsibility.
Atrazine, made by the Swiss-based multinational Novartis, causes more
public drinking water supplies to violate federal health standards each
year than any other chemical pollutant in the country. EWG argues that
unless Novartis takes responsibility for outfitting water utilities with
the proper equipment to filter out atrazine contamination, EPA should
ban use of atrazine entirely.
Source: Jane Houlihan and Richard Wiles, Into the Mouths of Babes:
Bottle-fed Infants at Risk from Atrazine in Tap Water, Environmental
Working Group, July 1999.
Copies of this report may be ordered for US$20 each (plus 6% sales tax
or $1.20 for residents of Washington, DC) and US$3 for postage and
handling. Also available on EWG's website. Contact Environmental
Working Group, 1718 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 600, Washington,
DC 20009; phone (202) 667-6982; fax (202) 232-2592; email
info@ewg.org; website http://www.ewg.org
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