The Economics of Atrazine
International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health 13:4, pp. 16-29
Author(s): Ackerman, F.Year: 2007
Atrazine, a leading herbicide, is often said to be of great economic benefit to corn growers, but support for this claim is limited. Research suggests that it boosts corn yields by only 1 to 6 percent. Italy and Germany both banned atrazine in 1991, with no harm to corn yields or harvested area. A small, perhaps zero, change in corn yields does not warrant large-scale exposure of humans and the environment to this potentially hazardous chemical.
This research was done at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University.
Click here to read a related op-ed article written by Frank Ackerman in August 2010, amid a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency review to determine whether atrazine should be banned in the United States. The article also ran in the Omaha World-Herald and the Kansas City Star.
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