Common Weedkiller Turns Male Frogs Into Females

[DeSwiss]

Source: Reuters

Common Weedkiller Turns Male Frogs Into Females

Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, Reuters March 2, 2010, 7:43 am



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Atrazine, one of the most commonly used and controversial weedkillers, can turn male frogs into females, researchers reported on Monday. The experiment is the first to show such complete effects of atrazine, which had been known to disrupt hormones and which is one of the chief suspects in the decline of amphibians such as frogs around the world. "Atrazine-exposed males were both demasculinized (chemically castrated) and completely feminized as adults," Tyrone Hayes of the University of California Berkeley and colleagues wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The chemical had been shown to disrupt development and make frogs develop both male and female features -- termed hermaphroditism. This study of 40 male frogs shows the process can go even further, Hayes said. "Before, we knew we got fewer males than we should have, and we got hermaphrodites. Now, we have clearly shown that many of these animals are sex-reversed males," Hayes said in a statement. "Atrazine has caused a hormonal imbalance that has made them develop into the wrong sex, in terms of their genetic constitution."

SIMILAR EFFECTS ON HUMANS?

Whether the effects translate to humans is far from clear. Frogs have thin skin that can absorb chemicals easily and they literally bathe in the polluted water. The European Union banned atrazine in 2004. The finding may add pressure to the United States to more closely regulate the chemical, used widely in agriculture. "Approximately 80 million pounds (36,287 tonnes) are applied annually in the United States alone, and atrazine is the most common pesticide contaminant of ground and surface water," the researchers wrote.

"Atrazine can be transported more than 1,000 km (621 miles) from the point of application via rainfall and, as a result, contaminates otherwise pristine habitats, even in remote areas where it is not used," they added, citing other researchers. "In fact, more than a half million pounds (227 tonnes) of atrazine are precipitated in rainfall each year in the United States." The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in October it was reviewing the health impacts of atrazine.

Read more: http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/technology/6872798/common-weedkiller-turns-male-frogs-into-females/

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- I suppose we can now add Atrazine to the list of other known sexual hormone/endocrine disruptors like http://www.wimp.com/disappearingmale/">Bisphenol A. You know, one would think that this would be the one area where all the guys in Congress would put their foots down to stop the chemical industry from shrinking and/or disappearing penises, but I suppose as long as their personal Viagra prescriptions continue to get filled and they get "their" erections on-time, why should they give a fuck?

And it's also at times like these in which I'm reminded that the chemical industry lobby and their bought-and-paid-for "scientists" have fought tooth and nail http://discovermagazine.com/2009/feb/22-very-tough-rat-big-risk-human-health">since 1996 just over what kind of mice to use in laboratory experiments that Congress authorized over 14 years ago, to discover what the effects of the 87,000+ chemicals that we're exposing the world to without having a clue (that anyone will admit to), so we might discover what this shit is doing to us.

The upside I suppose, is that when we learn how to turn men into women at-will, then it'll probably become the Army's latest bio-weapons program to be used in the war on terra.

Because it's hard to fight when you're wearing a burka......
==============================================================================
DeSwiss


http://www.atheisttoolbox.com/">The Atheist Toolbox




Quotes: "Obama hosted a healthcare summit that lasted about six hours which, coincidentally,
happens to be the average wait time at the emergency room, if you’re bleeding." -- Jimmy Kimmel

[era veteran]

1. The agri-business bund has fucked up the world

Rodale was right.

[DeSwiss]

2. Yes he was.

[KT2000]

3. Great rant!!

Yes - we are entering about the third decade of info about the harm from atrazine. I seem to recall it is suspected of causing or promoting breast cancer.
One thing I have noticed - countries that have national health care are quicker to ban chemicals that injure human health. But here, illness is a boon for the GDP!
Banning many of these chemicals would be the best step to reduce medical costs in this country.

[DeSwiss]

4. Since 2000.....

...study after study have shown the impact of Atrazine upon amphibians and yet "industry sponsored studies can't reproduce the same result." And since the 1970s Bisphenol A has been shown to cause mutations in aquatic life and alligators in the Everglades. But we do nothing because large sums of money are at stake. Fuck people. So the EPA has deferred to the money-men and sat on their damned asses and done little or nothing, as people died and contracted diseases. And yet the EU banned Atrazine in 2004, and they are looking at placing a similar ban on Bisphenol A now.

But we're little more than fucking guinea pigs in this country. For the agricultural, chemical and drug corporations, with a totally corrupted government aiding and abetting their crimes against humanity. They don't give a shit about anything but themselves and their fucking money.

- America, a capitalist nightmare for everyone but the Capitalists......

on edit: spelling

[SpiralHawk]

5. These are the same corporations occultly shoving mutant gmo food down

our gullets -- no labels, no way of knowing how hinky the food may be.

Eat clean food...in the long term, your health absolutely depends upon it...

[DeSwiss]

6. Yes, indeed they are......

[damyank913]

7. Hmm-I wonder if this stuff will work on my roommate...