As Wotzka Rescinds Lawsuit, Focus Intensifies on Atrazine

Paul Wotzka, the fired Minnesota Pollution Control Authority hydrologist, has dropped his lawsuit against the MPCA for the time being. Wotzka alleged that he was terminated because of his willingness to testify that the Minnesota Agricultural Department was under-reporting levels of the pesticide atrazine in state waters. Wotzka has stated that legal maneuvers by the state are preventing him from pursuing federal legal action, but that he hasn’t given up on the matter.

Even as Wotzka reevaluates his legal fight, awareness and opposition to atrazine continues to grow. On Sunday, the Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin reported that an Environmental Protection Agency database that has not been made public shows high levels of atrazine throughout the Midwest, including Missouri and Indiana. The EPA’s plan is to monitor “40 of the most vulnerable watersheds in the country.”Elperin also reports on the research of University of California, Berkley scientist Dr. Tyrone Hayes who identified atrazine as an endocrine disruptor and cause of hermaphroditism in amphibians. Hayes has made frequent visits to Minnesota. He was uninvited from delivering a keynote address to the MPCA regarding the finding of his research under alleged pressure from the Agricultural Department in 2004, and most recently was a featured speaker at a benefit held for Wotzka.

Atrazine is the most commonly used herbicide in the United States. It was banned in 2005 by the European Union, where it is manufactured by Swiss-based Syngenta. The chemical can be transported from fields to watersheds during heavy rains or flooding.