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A cancer-linked pesticide banned in more than 60 countries around the world contaminates an estimated 25% of river and stream miles in the lower 48 US states, including many waterways used for drinking water, according to a new analysis.

The analysis from the Center for Biological Diversity builds on evidence that atrazine — which is commonly used to grow corn, soybeans, sorghum and sugarcane and is linked to dangerous health problems for people and wildlife — remains ubiquitous in US waterways, especially in farming states.

“It’s just an astounding level of contamination from just one pesticide,” said Nathan Donley, the environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

The findings come as the Trump administration re-evaluates atrazine’s registration and signals its support for continued use, including by dismissing research by international cancer experts on links between cancer and atrazine late last year.

Atrazine is the second most widely used herbicide in the US after glyphosate. US farmers apply roughly 70 million pounds of the pesticide to their fields every year, according to US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates. Exposure has been linked to birth defects, low birth weights, hormone disruption, some cancers and immune system problems. It is also considered an endocrine disruptor, meaning it can interfere with the human hormone system.

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The Center for Biological Diversity used EPA data focused on waterways in the lower 48 states, and examined the prevalence of atrazine at levels that exceeded the EPA’s threshold for harm to river ecosystems,........

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