Listen to the frogs

Study says herbicide causes frogs' sex change

From the San Francisco Chronicle (reference info follows article text): A powerful and widely used herbicide called Atrazine changes the sex of many male frogs to females and emasculates three-quarters of others, according to research reported this week by a UC Berkeley professor and molecular toxicologist.


The controversy has major political implications because the Environmental Protection Agency had approved Atrazine under the Bush administration after rejecting earlier findings, and agency scientists in the Obama administration are now reviewing that EPA rule. The European Union has already banned Atrazine after concluding that minute levels found in lakes and streams severely damaged amphibians.

But wait, Syngenta claims:

The latest, cutting-edge research shows that atrazine has no adverse effect on frogs. In reviewing the research in 2007, EPA went so far as to say, "the data are sufficiently robust to outweigh previous efforts to study the potential effects of atrazine on amphibian gonadal development" and "there is no compelling reason to pursue additional testing."

So who to believe, a toxicologist or the company making money from the product? My bet is on the frog who is telling us that something is just not right. Something is going on. We should pay attention. 50 years as a product does not mean safety!