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ToxFAQs™


ToxFAQs™
for
Atrazine

(Atrazina)
September 2003

Atrazine ToxFAQs™ PDF PDF Version, 85 KB

CAS#: 1912-24-9

This fact sheet answers the most frequently asked health questions about atrazine. For more information, you may call the ATSDR Information Center at 1-888-422-8737. This fact sheet is one in a series of summaries about hazardous substances and their health effects. This information is important because this substance may harm you. The effects of exposure to any hazardous substance depend on the dose, the duration, how you are exposed, personal traits and habits, and whether other chemicals are present.

Highlights

The general population is probably not exposed to atrazine. However, exposure to atrazine may occur at farms where it has been sprayed. Atrazine may affect pregnant women by causing their babies to grow more slowly than normal. Birth defects and liver, kidney, and heart damage has been seen in animals exposed to high levels of atrazine. This chemical has been found in at least 20 of the 1,636 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

What is atrazine?

Atrazine is an herbicide that does not occur naturally. Pure atrazine is an odorless, white powder that is not very volatile, reactive, or flammable and that will dissolve in water.

Atrazine is used to kill weeds, primarily on farms, but has also been used on highway and railroad rights-of-way. The EPA now restricts how atrazine can be used and applied; only trained people are allowed to spray it.

What happens to atrazine when it enters the environment?

How might I be exposed to atrazine?

How can atrazine affect my health?

Liver, kidney, and heart damage has been observed in animals exposed to atrazine; we do not know if this would also occur in humans. Atrazine has also been shown to cause changes in blood hormone levels in animals that affected ovulation and the ability to reproduce. These effects are not expected to occur in humans because of specific biological differences between humans and these types of animals.

How likely is atrazine to cause cancer?

Available information is inadequate to definitely state whether atrazine causes cancer in humans. There are limited human and animal data that suggest that there may be a link between atrazine exposure and various types of cancer. A Cancer Assessment Review Committee (CARC) sponsored by EPA has classified atrazine as not likely to be carcinogenic to humans. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has determined that atrazine is not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans.

How can atrazine affect children?

Little information is available regarding the effects of atrazine in children. It is likely that the health effects seen in children should be similar to the effects seen in adults. We do not know whether children differ from adults in their susceptibility to atrazine.

A few studies are available that suggest that atrazine could affect pregnant women by causing their babies to grow more slowly than normal or by causing them to give birth early. However, the women in these studies were also exposed to other chemicals that may have caused or contributed to these effects. In pregnant animals, exposure to atrazine causes a decrease in fetal growth and birth defects. Exposure to high levels of atrazine during pregnancy caused reduced survival of fetuses. It is unclear whether or at what level of exposure this might occur in humans.

How can families reduce the risk of exposure to atrazine?

Is there a medical test to show whether I've been exposed to atrazine?

Atrazine can be detected in your blood and some other body tissues within 24 to 48 hours after your last exposure. These tests are not usually available at your doctors office, but your doctor can send the samples to a laboratory that can perform the tests. None of these tests, however, can predict whether you will experience any health effects.

Has the federal government made recommendations to protect human health?

The EPA has set a maximum amount of atrazine in drinking water of 0.003 milligrams of atrazine per liter of drinking water (0.003 mg/L).

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set a limit of 5 milligrams of atrazine per cubic meter of workplace air (5 mg/m3) for an 8_hour workday and 40-hour work week.

The EPA has determined maximum levels allowed in foods of 0.02-15 parts atrazine per million parts of food (0.02-15 ppm).

References

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). 2003. Toxicological Profile for Atrazine. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.

Where can I get more information?

ATSDR can tell you where to find occupational and environmental health clinics. Their specialists can recognize, evaluate, and treat illnesses resulting from exposure to hazardous substances. You can also contact your community or state health or environmental quality department if you have any more questions or concerns.

For more information, contact:

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine
1600 Clifton Road NE, Mailstop F-32
Atlanta, GA 30333
Phone: 1- 800-232-4636 / TTY: 888-232-6348  
FAX: 770-488-4178
Email: cdcinfo@cdc.gov

This page was updated on 09/11/2007