Assembly Bill A11122

                                BILL NUMBER:A11122

TITLE  OF BILL:   An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in
relation to prohibiting the use of the herbicide atrazine

PURPOSE OF THE BILL: The purpose of the bill is  to  ban  the  remaining
uses of Atrazine, which are agricultural,

SUMMARY  OF  PROVISIONS:  The bill amends the Environmental Conservation
Law to add a new Section 37-0331, that would make it  unlawful  for  any
person to distribute, sell, offer for sale or use the pesticide atrazine
within  the  state or deliver for transportation or transport. in intra-
state commerce or between points within this  state  through  any  point
outside this State.

JUSTIFICATION:    Atrazine  has  been  a  highly controversial pesticide
because of its effects on non-target  species  such  as  amphibians  and
because  of  widespread  contamination  of  waterways and drinking water
supplies. The European Union has banned all uses of  atrazine  in  2004.
New  York  State  still has 59 atrazine products registered for agricul-
tural use as restricted use pesticides with 30 of these products prohib-
ited from use on Long Island.

Atrazine has long been known to contaminate drinking water  supplies  of
millions  of  Americans.  Recent  research showed that atrazine produces
gender-bending effects on male frogs,  chemically  castrating  some  and
              

turning  others into females. A researcher at the University of Califor-
nia at Berkeley exposed frogs to atrazine  levels  comparable  to  those
allowed  in drinking water by the Environmental Protection Agency. These
frogs began to grow eggs in their  testes  and  nearly  all  males  were
unable  to reproduce because of low testosterone and sperm counts. These
studies raise new questions about the safety of  atrazine,  which  other
studies  have  linked  to  human birth defects as an endocrine disruptor
effects, possible carcinogenic effects and epidemiological connection to
low sperm counts, leading some researchers to call for a ban in the U.S.

Approximately 75% of stream water samples and 40# of groundwater samples
contain atrazine, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.  The  Natural
Resources  Defense Council detected atrazine in 90% of tap water samples
from 139 water systems,

The effect of atrazine, which is widely  used  in  conservation  tillage
systems,  on  yields has been estimated at only 3-4%. The low effective-
ness of this pesticide coupled with the damaging ecological  and  poten-
tial  human  effects  makes the case for banning all uses of atrazine in
New York State.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New bill

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:  None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act would take effect on January 1,  2010,  except
that DEC can promulgate rules and regulations necessary to implement the
act.