An assessment of the genetic toxicity of atrazine: Relevance to human health and environmental effects

The genetic toxicity of atrazine, a member of the s-triazine herbicides, was reviewed with the objective of classifying the chemical. Atrazine has been subjected to a broad range of genetic tests with predominantly negative results. Some publications, specifically those measuring dominant lethality in mice and bone marrow clastogenicity in rodents, reported conflicting results across two or more independent tests. Two approaches were employed to evaluate and interpret the results. The first approach attempts to classify each type of genetic endpoint as positive or negative and resolve test conflicts by critical assessment of the study and detailed data. This is the more traditional “expert judgment” approach to hazard assessment. The second approach employs a computer-assisted weight-of-evidence method of data analysis. This approach does not require resolution of conflicts but uses all data sets to arrive at a classification of hazard. The first approach was able to resolve some conflicts but not all. Use of the “expert judgement” results in an equivocal conclusion and classification. Use of the weight-of-evidence method resulted in a conclusion that atrazine does not pose a mutagenic hazard. The weight-of-evidence scheme is proposed to be a more practical and relevant approach for assessing complex data sets.