Ban Chinese Toxins on North Carolina Agricultural Land

I am writing to urge you to support a ban on the use of the herbicide atrazine on North Carolina’s agricultural land. Atrazine is manufactured by the Swiss‑based company Syngenta, which is now majority‑owned by the Chinese state‑linked conglomerate Sinochem. In other words, one of the most widely used weedkillers on North Carolina farms is produced by a foreign‑owned chemical company tied to a geopolitical rival, while North Carolinians bear the health and environmental costs. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has found that atrazine is likely to harm more than 1,000 protected species, yet the agency has claimed that only minor, generic changes are enough to protect them—an approach environmental scientists have called inadequate. Atrazine is already the most widespread pesticide contaminant in U.S. waters, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified it as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” based on evidence linking it to several cancers, birth defects, and fertility problems such as low sperm quality and irregular menstrual cycles. The European Union and at least three dozen other countries have already banned or severely restricted atrazine because of its risks to groundwater and human health. Here in North Carolina, we should not be slower than Europe to protect our children, farmers, wildlife, and drinking water from a Chinese‑manufactured chemical that foreign governments themselves have decided is too dangerous to allow. I respectfully ask you to: Support/approve legislation that would ban the use of atrazine on North Carolina farmland. Support tighter controls on other toxic herbicides, especially those manufactured by foreign‑owned companies. Align our state’s pesticide policy with the administration's promises to reduce toxins in our environment and food. I would appreciate a response letting me know whether you support a ban on atrazine and what steps you plan to take to protect North Carolina from the continued spread of this Chinese‑manufactured chemical.