How Safe is Atrazine?

You've probably never heard of the chemical atrazine, but it's one of the most widely-used weed killers in the U.S. Farmers spray 80 million tons of the stuff on corn and soybeans each year. But a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that atrazine is causing cancers and fertility problems in humans and turning animals like frogs into hermaphrodites.

For several months, my colleague Danielle Ivory has been researching atrazine, interviewing experts, and submitting freedom of information act requests to find out if the American public is being told the truth about how much this worrisome chemical gets into our water and what its effects really are. Now she's released the shocking results of her work along with video that I shot and helped field produce. Lagan Sebert did a terrific job editing the video, which is planned to be the first in a series examining the science, politics, and health effects of atrazine.

LATEST NEWS: This video kicked off a series of five articles by Danielle Ivory and Lagan Sebert that were named award finalists by Investigative Reporters and Editors in 2010.