"Lawsuit Questions Safety of Herbicide"

"A class action lawsuit representing water districts throughout Illinois cites recent research contending atrazine in drinking water is unsafe at any level, even measurements well below U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.

Attorney Stephen Tillery said Peoria is one of the higher population areas with atrazine contamination in water supplies.

Tillery said the U.S. EPA conducted more than 40 private meetings with the leading manufacturer of atrazine to devise a testing protocol that manipulatively distorts atrazine levels in water.

Illinois American Water Co. reports atrazine levels of 0.5 parts per billion in Peoria tap water, a level recent research has linked with low-birth weights but a level well below the 3 parts per billion considered safe by the EPA.

Atrazine, an herbicide often used on corn fields, is linked with breast and prostate cancers and reproductive and neurological problems."

Clare Howard reports for the Peoria Journal Star August 22, 2009.