Atrazine in corn production. A history of knowledge and ignorance about the herbicide atrazine in West Germany and the United States, 1950-1991

Since the second half of the 20th century West German and American corn production has changed radically. West Germany started to grow U.S. hybrid corn and imported not only the seeds but the corn-growing technique, knowledge, and practices as well.

Elena Kunadt's project focuses on the herbicide atrazine (Ciba Geigy, Bern, Switzerland), which quickly became the mainstay of industrial corn production after its release to the world market in 1958−59. She would consider atrazine a key element in the growth of the U.S. corn industry and the emergence of the West German corn industry in the 1960s. West Germany followed the corn-producing practices of the United States until residues of atrazine were detected in groundwater and drinking water in the mid-1960s. After years of debates West Germany banned the use and sale of atrazine in 1991, forcing the national corn industry to change. The United States, on the other hand, declared the residues of atrazine safe for human health and the use of atrazine necessary for corn production.

Kunadt's research aims for a history of atrazine that sets its focus on the production, transformation, and use of knowledge and “non-knowledge” about this herbicide. She is interested in different kinds of knowledge regarding atrazine, such as scientific, practical, and political knowledge and its development in the respective actor groups in West Germany and the United States. Furthermore, the project analyzes the historical development of the corn industry, with a focus on the close interrelation between corn production and atrazine’s use in the United States and West Germany.

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