How Dangerous Is Atrazine

Atrazine is an agricultural herbicide that is widely used by farmers to control broadleaf weeds and grasses that interfere with the growth of corn, sorghum, sugar cane, and other crops. Atrazine is also used as a weed killer on golf courses as well as a variety of commercial and residential lawns. Atrazine, which is produced by the Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta, was first registered for use in the United States in 1959. The herbicide has been banned in the European Union since 2004—individual countries in Europe banned Atrazine as early as 1991—but 80 million pounds of the stuff is used each year in the United States - it is now the second most used herbicide in the US after glyphosate (Roundup). Atrazine Threatens Amphibians Atrazine may protect crops and lawns from certain types of weeds, but it is a real problem for other species. The chemical is a potent endocrine disruptor that causes immunosuppression, hermaphroditism and even complete sex reversal in male frogs at concentrations as low as 2.5 parts per billion (ppb)—well below the 3.0 ppb that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says is safe. This problem is particularly acute because amphibian populations worldwide have been declining at such unprecedented rates that, today, nearly one-third of the worlds amphibian species are threatened with extinction (though in large due to the chytrid fungus). In addition, atrazine has been linked to reproductive defects in fish and prostate and breast cancer in laboratory rodents. Epidemiological studies also suggest that atrazine is a human carcinogen and leads to other human health issues. Atrazine Is a Growing Health Problem for Humans Researchers are finding an increasing number of links between atrazine and poor birth outcomes in humans. A 2009 study, for example, found a significant correlation between prenatal atrazine exposure (primarily from the drinking water consumed by pregnant women) and reduced body weight in newborns. Low birth weight is associated with an increased risk of illness in infants and conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The public health issue is a growing concern because atrazine is also the most commonly detected pesticide in American groundwater. An extensive U.S. Geological Survey study found atrazine in approximately 75 percent of stream water and about 40 percent of groundwater samples in the agricultural areas tested. More recent data showed atrazine present in 80 percent of drinking water samples taken from 153 public water systems. Atrazine is not only widely present in the environment, but it is also unusually persistent. Fifteen years after France stopped using atrazine, the chemical can still be detected there. Every year, more than half a million pounds of atrazine drift off during spraying and falls back to Earth in rain and snow, eventually seeping into streams and groundwater and contributing to chemical water pollution. The EPA re-registered atrazine in 2006 and deemed it safe, saying that it posed no health risks for humans. The NRDC and other environmental organizations question that conclusion, pointing out that the EPAs inadequate monitoring systems and weak regulations have allowed atrazine levels in watersheds and drinking water to reach extremely high concentrations, which certainly puts public health in question and possibly at serious risk. In June 2016 the EPA released a draft ecological assessment of atrazine, which recognized negative consequences of the pesticide on aquatic communities, including their plant, fish, amphibian, and invertebrate populations. Additional concerns extend to terrestrial ecological communities. These findings concern the pesticide industry, of course, but also many farmers who rely on atrazine to control hardy weeds. Many Farmers Like Atrazine It’s easy to see why a lot of farmers like Atrazine. It’s relatively cheap, it doesn’t harm crops, it increases yields, and it saves them money. According to one study, farmers growing corn and using Atrazine over a 20-year period (1986-2005) saw average yields of 5.7 bushels more per acre, an increase of more than 5 percent. The same study found that Atrazine’s lower costs and higher yields added an estimated $25.74 per acre to farmers’ income in 2005, which added up to a total benefit to U.S. farmers of $1.39 billion. A different study by the EPA estimated the increased income for farmers at $28 per acre, for a total benefit of more than $1.5 billion to U.S. farmers. Banning Atrazine Would Not Hurt Farmers On the other hand, a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) suggests that if atrazine were banned in the United States, the drop in corn yields would be only about 1.19 percent, and the corn acreage would be reduced by only 2.35 percent. Dr. Frank Ackerman, an economist at Tufts University, concluded that estimates of higher corn losses were flawed due to problems in methodology. Ackerman found that despite a 1991 ban on atrazine in both Italy and Germany, neither country has recorded significant adverse economic effects. In his report, Ackerman wrote there was â€Å"no sign of yields dropping in Germany or Italy after 1991, relative to the U.S. yield—as would be the case if atrazine were essential. Far from showing any slowdown after 1991, both Italy and (especially) German show faster growth in harvested areas after banning atrazine than before.† Based on this analysis, Ackerman concluded that if â€Å"the yield impact is on the order of 1%, as USDA estimated, or close to zero, as suggested by the newer evidence discussed here, then the economic consequences [of phasing out atrazine] become minimal.† Conversely, the economic costs of continuing to use atrazine—both in water treatment and public health costs—could be significant when compared to the relatively small economic losses of banning the chemical. Edited by Frederic Beaudry.

Corporate Social Responsibility And Its Effect On...

Chuanzi Shi Ling 200 Elizabeth Metzler 2016/12/6 Introduction Corporate social responsibility is the form that enterprises and firms benefits and do good things for the society. Many companies such as Starbucks, Nordstrom are the good examples of firms which takes the corporate social responsibility. In the society today, more and more people care about corporate social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility even effect consumers’ choices of shopping. For example, sweatshop is a controversy topic within corporate social responsibility and sweatshops have profound effect on consumers’ shopping choice. Sweatshop is a firms or company, mostly in the clothing workshops who offers extremely low wages to the workers and make the workers work for long hours in terrible working environments. Some of the sweatshops’ working conditions are not even safe and harm the workers’ health. Moreover, some workers even have limited freedom, and some violence action may use in sweatshop to control the workers. Sweatshops has ex ists for a longtime, and it still exists in many countries as well as in Unites States. Moreover, the global business model and intense competition have leads more industries to use sweatshop in order to reduces their costs and increase profits. There are two controversies about sweatshops. The first is sweatshops help the economy and benefits consumers. The second is sweatshops harm the economy and bring ethical problem. In the United States, the mostShow MoreRelatedCorporate Social Responsibility Essays1662 Words   |  7 Pages Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the concept that corporations are expected to perform certain acts for the betterment of society. 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Reaction Paper of the Movie Agora Essay Example For Students

Reaction Paper of the Movie Agora Essay Wars, conflicts and deaths between the Christians, pagans and the Jews were not so strange for me anymore. Quite unfamiliar, however, was the story of Hystia and her great findings. I pictured women in the ancient times as submissive, simple-minded, gentle and defenceless that I was quite shocked when I first learned that Hystia was a philosopher and a great teacher. I regretted that idea in the end because it was like thinking so lowly of earlier women. But to think that a woman, found the answer on a long-debated question about the orbit of the earth, was quite a controversy. Of course, many people believed that it was Keppler who discovered the elliptical shape of the orbit, but actually it was already answered way, way back in the time of great kings and not great scientists. It was just so sad because during that time people were not strong enough to accept philosophy and science. Instead they depend solely on their religion that they disregarded the essential questions of life and eventually even the scriptures of their own religion. Even the Christians, whose main teachings are forgiveness, love and understanding, also killed other people for power and authority. I am a Christian, and it was quite disappointing for me to learn that my fore-fathers were hypocrites. They taught people to do the right thing, even though they themselves resort to death when their own security was threatened. After I watched the movie, I am thankful and amused at the same time. I was amused because of the differences in the past and the present in accordance to our beliefs. And thankful because I lived here, at a time where we are not tied by our own differences. Discrimination may still be wide spread but more people began to learn that all of us are unique. Various philosophies, opinions and even religions are accepted and respected. Different people could already live in harmony with each other. And it was nice to think that people evolved in a good way where freedom and democracy prevails, where scientists could already study science as long as they want. The movie indeed made an impact on me, all as a Christian, a woman and of course, a human.

Sophocle`s Plays Essays - Mythological Kings, Creon, Oedipus

Sophocle`s Plays According to ancient Greeks the state of human beings was always in constant tragedy. This is due to the continuous control that the Gods exerted on all human beings. The Gods determined their fate and if humans tried to change their destiny and thus their character they were punished. The Gods required justice and never let someone go unpunished. Sophocles wrote two plays that described these ideas. The characters in these plays, Oedipus, Jocasta, Creon, and Antigone were bound to the Gods, and trapped between various moral obligations. A question that was deeply present in Greek conscience was that everyone needed to know their place in the universe as a human being. Oedipus was on a continual search throughout King Oedipus for his identity. The use of oracles in the play depict the importance of the Gods role in the Theban society. Greeks depended on them for guidance and answers to problems. Oedipus as the king of Thebes was morally obligated to his subjects to find the killer of Laius who is the source of the vile plague and promises that he will save the city just as he did when he solved the riddle of the Sphinx. After sending Creon to the oracle at Delphi and speaking to Teiresias he believes that they are both planning to dethrone Oedipus. In the interaction between Teiresias and Creon you can see Oedipus' tragic flaw which is his pride. Oedipus taunts Teiresias when he says that he is the killer of the previous king. Oedipus refers to his track record and shows Teiresias if he was any good at prophesizing that he would have solved the riddle himself. He holds himself as this overconfident and superior being because he possesses an intelligence that surpasses everyone in Thebes. He also accuses Creon of wanting to be king and using the prophet as his pawn. His pride also made him kill the king and all but one of his guards. This makes his pride a tragic flaw because it made him save the city, but allowed him to kill his father and guards with indifference. His pride led to his greatness and his downfall. Oedipus also angers the Gods. At the oracle of Apollo he wanted to find if Polybus was really his father, but instead gets a horrific prediction that he will kill his father and marry his mother. He tries to use his free will to flee Corinth and his parents, but indeed he makes the prediction come true. Oedipus should have known that by trying to change his fate he irritates the Gods and is punished by finding the truth out in a cruel way and making his fate come true anyway. He also did not listen to Teiresias who he knows is the nearest mortal to Apollo. This would mean that he disregarded a message from Apollo and therefore has a disbelief in Gods. You can see that his moral predicament was a search of Laius' murderer which in fact led him to find his own origins by revealing an undeniable fact that he killed his father and married his mother. No one could escape their fate because it was predestined by the Gods. Jocasta can be seen as a disbeliever of the Gods and their oracles. The moral dilemma that Jocasta faced was to prevent a prophecy from coming true and to test Oedipus' faith. Jocasta tried to avoid the prophecy from coming true by sending her son to be exposed on a mountain to be killed. By doing this and pinning her son's feet together she tried to defeat the Gods which highly angered them. Jocasta planted doubts after hearing that Oedipus and Creon's argument was due to an oracle. She says they are nonsense because she was given a prophecy that Laius would be killed by the son and marry his mother. She believed that Laius was killed by robbers and that the baby died on the mountain. Since this did not come true she believed that they were incorrect. Also when the messenger comes to tell of Polybus' death, Jocasta again says that his propecy was also a lie. She is implying that since that oracles were wrong that the Gods were also false. Jocasta's punishment can be seen as a test. She was to test the beliefs of the child she had sent to die. By planting doubts of the Gods in Oedipus' mind the gods can test his faith and his power. He failed the test and