Document d’information : l’atrazine, interdit en Europe, répandu au Canada

The document examines the use and impact of atrazine in Canada and globally, highlighting its role as a significant environmental and health risk despite declining sales in Quebec. It details the chemical's persistence in surface and groundwater, its classification as an endocrine disruptor by several governments, and its toxic effects on wildlife, particularly amphibians. The text also discusses the lack of consensus on human carcinogenicity, the risks associated with pesticide 'cocktails', and the legal challenges surrounding its regulation in North America, ultimately advocating for a ban based on the European example.

• Atrazine use is declining globally, except in Asia, and was banned throughout Europe in 2003 due to the risk of groundwater contamination.
• In Quebec, while chlorotriazine sales fell by 72% between 1992 and 2014, atrazine remains the pesticide with the highest environmental risk (11.9%) and the second-highest health risk (11.7%).
• Atrazine is highly persistent in the environment; in Quebec, between 2011 and 2014, 97% of surface water samples were contaminated with atrazine and 70% with its metabolite diethyl-atrazine (DEA).
• The governments of Canada, Quebec, the United States, and Australia classify atrazine as an evident endocrine disruptor, which is suspected of causing reproductive toxicity and carcinogenicity.
• Atrazine exposure is linked to reproductive toxicity in animals, including the feminization of male frogs and spontaneous abortions in rodents.
• The document notes that atrazine often appears in 'cocktails' with other pesticides; in Quebec, it was detected in 98% of surface water samples from corn-producing regions alongside approximately twenty other herbicides.
• The author argues that banning atrazine would not necessarily reduce crop yields, noting that the ban in Europe actually led to increased productivity.

APA

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (n.d.). Document d’information : l’atrazine, interdit en Europe, répandu au Canada. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Atrazine-Bckgd-FR-2016.pdf

Chicago

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. Document d’information : l’atrazine, interdit en Europe, répandu au Canada. n.d. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Atrazine-Bckgd-FR-2016.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment |title=Document d’information : l’atrazine, interdit en Europe, répandu au Canada |url=https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Atrazine-Bckgd-FR-2016.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{canadianassociationofphysiciansfortheenvironmentnddocument, author = {{Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}}, title = {{Document d’information : l’atrazine, interdit en Europe, répandu au Canada}}, institution = {Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}, url = {https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Atrazine-Bckgd-FR-2016.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }