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At least two significant Canadian farm well studies showed that atrazine was the most common contaminant found. As of 2001, atrazine was the most commonly detected pesticide contaminating drinking water in the U.S. Studies suggest it is an endocrine disruptor, an agent that can alter the natural hormonal system.Atrazine is a chlorinated herbicide of the triazine class. It is used to prevent pre-emergence broadleaf weeds in crops such as maize (corn), soybean and sugarcane and on turf, such as golf courses and residential lawns. Atrazine's primary manufacturer is Syngenta and it is one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States, Canadian, and Australian agriculture. Its use was banned in the European Union in 2004, when the EU found groundwater levels exceeding the limits set by regulators, and Syngenta could not show that this could be prevented nor that these levels were safe