Don't Tell the Frogs It's Safe

Syngenta Crop Protection hired the Alston & Bird firm, and enlisted former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, to lobby promoting the safety of atrazine, a herbicide linked to cancer and frog deformities that's been banned in the European Union. Sygenta spent $260,000 lobbying the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and others over the past two years; Dole met at least once with White House officials. The EPA concluded that no studies showed that "potential cancer risk is likely from exposure to atrazine." Atrazine is used on two-thirds of the corn and 90% of the sugar cane grown in the United States.