As Change.org has previously reported, atrazine is as ubiquitous as it is dangerous.

The most widely used weed killer in the country, it spreads swiftly to municipal water—where it has been found to lower sperm counts for men and increase the risk of breast cancer and fertility problems in women. When tested on frogs, it was even powerful enough to turn males into functional females.

Now, citizens are fighting back. Sixteen cities in Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Iowa have filed a lawsuit demanding that Syngenta—which manufactures atrazine and has made billions off it—pay for its removal from public water systems. If successful, the payout could be huge: It's estimated the cities involved have spent more than $350 million trying to filter the herbicide from their water.

Not surprisingly, Syngenta has denied any wrongdoing. A spokesperson told the Huffington Post Investigative Fund that atrazine was given a green light by the EPA in 2006, so there's "no need" to filter it.

But the defense ignores the EPA's own spotty record — the agency came under attack last fall for not disclosing the products' hazards — and limited power. Not to mention the agency has opened an investigation into atrazine's dangers. The European Union banned it outright in 2004.

Bottom line: There's plenty of evidence that atrazine does not belong in public waterways or drinking water. It makes sense to hold the product's manufacturer — and beneficiary — accountable for damage already done, and then to get the stuff off the market.

Read the lawsuit here.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

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