WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hosted the last of its scientific meetings earlier this month as part of its re-review of the popular herbicide atrazine.

The Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) meetings were held on June 12-15. They are the last of several going back to November 2009 as part of a process to take a second look at atrazine, after it was originally reevaluated more than 10 years ago. The EPA concluded its last evaluation of atrazine in 2003.

On its website the agency stated that since its last evaluation there have been 150 published studies investigating a wide array of effects that are potentially relevant to human health risks.

Jere White, executive director of the Kansas Corn Growers Assoc., was in Washington, D.C., last week for the meetings and has been out front over the past several years on the issue, from the growers’ perspective. White described the meetings as “another check-in” regarding the effects of atrazine on amphibians. White said the agency basically isn’t concerned about it anymore.

There is also something called ecological levels of concern (LOC). “It’s really like the third (meeting) on ecological endpoints to use,” he said.

He stated the agency might change the label use for some geographical areas. “Clearly the EPA is proposing potential levels of concern that could play into other measures that could lead to more restrictive labeling in some areas,” he said.

But there’s no more talk of banning the herbicide, except within some environmental groups, White said. One of those groups is Save the Frogs.

“Atrazine is the 21st century’s DDT,” said Terry Kriger, founder and executive director of Save the Frogs. “Now that we have the EPA’s attention, we are a large step closer towards protecting our food supply, our drinking water and our wildlife from this known endocrine-disruptor.

“However, only a few percent of Americans have ever heard of atrazine, so raising awareness of the issue is critical if we are to overcome the lobbying power of the billion-dollar agro-chemical giants.”

Atrazine is made by the agro-chemical company Syngenta. White said the last SAP meeting in Washington “went pretty well. There are still some frustrations. When there’s an academic panel, there’s always the sense that there’s never enough information, but from a regulatory standpoint, the agency has to make decisions.”

White said the discussions that took place on amphibians and aquatic plants will most likely fit in with the re-registration process for atrazine, which is scheduled to take place next year.

“It’s likely that this information will end up being used for that process,” White said. “This is just another step in the process; it’s been an incredibly long process. Atrazine continues to be a very important product for farmers for weed control.” He said the regularly scheduled re-registration of atrazine should be started and completed in fiscal year 2013.

In a related development, Syngenta announced last month it had settled a lawsuit with municipal water systems over claims that too much atrazine was ending up in drinking water. Syngenta settled the claims by agreeing to pay out a total of $105 million. It called the lawsuit baseless and said the settlement was a business decision.

“Syngenta acknowledges no liability and continues to stand by the safety of atrazine,” said a statement from the company.

“The scientific evidence continues to make it clear that no one ever has or ever could be exposed to enough atrazine in water to affect their health. The plaintiffs also acknowledge that they have not commissioned and are not aware of any new scientific studies relating to the safety of atrazine.

“This settlement is good for the company and the farmers who depend on atrazine, as well as our retailers, distributors, partners and others who have been inconvenienced by this ongoing and burdensome litigation.”