#atrazine

This 👆 man claims Atrazine (the gender bender chemical) is in the school lunches from Michelle Obama’s “Healthy, Hunger” free kids school lunches.

Excerpt from this press release from the Center for Biological Diversity:

Conservation and public health groups filed a formal notice with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin today to force the agency to develop water-quality standards for atrazine, a cancer-linked pesticide that has been found at dangerous levels in thousands of U.S. waterways and in drinking-water supplies.

The notice comes ten days after the Trump U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its finalized review of atrazine, concluding that the potent endocrine disruptor does not pose an extinction risk to any threatened or endangered animals or plants. This contrasts sharply with the EPA’s 2021 finding that widespread atrazine pollution is harming more than 1,000 threatened and endangered species.

“The Trump administration has failed to do anything to adequately protect our families and most endangered wildlife from the dangers of cancer-linked and hormone-disrupting pesticides, like atrazine,” said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s appalling that the United States is so far behind the rest of the world in banning this inherently dangerous pesticide.”

The Clean Water Act requires the EPA to develop water-quality criteria for pollutants, such as atrazine. The agency initiated that step in 1999 but never completed that requirement. The legal notice filed today by the Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Environmental Health and Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network is required before any future lawsuit.

Atrazine pollution is caused by tens of millions of pounds of the pesticide being used each year by industrial agricultural operations in the United States.

The pesticide is banned as too dangerous in more than 60 countries but is the second most widely used pesticide in the United States. It is linked to birth defects, multiple cancers, and fertility problems like low sperm quality and irregular menstrual cycles.

Atrazine — banned in over 60 countries — is the second most used pesticide in the U.S. and a major water contaminant. It’s a hormone disruptor linked to birth defects, cancer, and fertility issues like low sperm count and menstrual irregularities.

Read More: https://thefreethoughtproject.com/health/60-countries-banned-this-pesticide-trump-insists-its-safe-to-use-in-the-u-s

There is an enormous amount of competition for PolitiFact's 2023 Lie of the Year award. But the decision has been made and the dubious honor goes to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

As pundits and politicos spar over whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign will factor into the outcome of the 2024 election, one thing is clear: Kennedy’s political following is built on a movement that seeks to legitimize conspiracy theories. His claims decrying vaccines have roiled scientists and medical experts and stoked anger over whether his work harms children. He has made suggestions about the cause of COVID-19 that he acknowledges sound racist and antisemitic. Bolstered by his famous name and family’s legacy, his campaign of conspiracy theories has gained an electoral and financial foothold. He is running as an independent — having abandoned his pursuit of the Democratic Party nomination — and raised more than $15 million. A political action committee pledged to spend between $10 million and $15 million to get his name on the ballot in 10 states.  Even though he spent the past two decades as a prominent leader of the anti-vaccine movement, Kennedy rejects a blanket "anti-vax" label that he told Fox News in July makes him "look crazy, like a conspiracy theorist." But Kennedy draws bogus conclusions from scientific work. He employs "circumstantial evidence" as if it is proof. In TV, podcast and political appearances for his campaign in 2023, Kennedy steadfastly maintained:

Vaccines cause autism.

No childhood vaccines "have ever been tested in a safety study pre-licensing."

There is "tremendous circumstantial evidence" that psychiatric drugs cause mass shootings, and the National Institutes of Health refuses to research the link out of deference to pharmaceutical companies.

Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were discredited as COVID-19 treatments so COVID-19 vaccines could be granted emergency use authorization, a win for Big Pharma. 

Exposure to the pesticide atrazine contributes to gender dysphoria in children.

COVID-19 is "targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese."

His off the scale and totally unsupported conspiracy theories are not confined to autism, vaccines, immunity, and COVID-19.

For Kennedy, the conspiracies aren’t limited to public health. He claims "members of the CIA" were involved in the assassination of his uncle, John F. Kennedy. He doesn’t "believe that (Sirhan) Sirhan’s bullets ever hit my father," Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-N.Y. He insists the 2004 presidential election was stolen from Democratic candidate John Kerry. News organizations, including PolitiFact, have documented why those claims, and many others, are false, speculative or conspiracy-minded. Kennedy has sat for numerous interviews and dismissed the critics, not with the grievance and bluster of former President Donald Trump, but with a calm demeanor. He amplifies the alleged plot and repeats dubious scientific evidence and historical detail.  Will his approach translate to votes? According to polls since November of a three-way matchup between President Joe Biden, Trump and Kennedy, Kennedy pulled 16% to 22% of respondents. Kennedy’s movement exemplifies the resonance of conspiratorial views. Misinformers with organized efforts are rewarded with money and loyalty. But that doesn’t make the claims true. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign based on false theories is PolitiFact’s 2023 Lie of the Year.

A Reminder: RFK Jr. has been politically disowned by other members of the Kennedy extended family. They do not support his bizarre conspiracy theories and other rantings. He is trying to capitalize on his family name even though he is a disgrace to the heritage of his uncles and father.

A new analysis from the Environmental Protection Agency paints a grim picture for wildlife in the United States. The country's second-most commonly used pesticide, atrazine, is likely harming most species of mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, especially in the Midwest where its use is highest.

Sadly the findings aren't all that shocking — we've known about this for decades. The European Union banned atrazine a dozen years ago for exactly this reason.