"Common weed killer stunts frog reproduction"
by Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Science Writer
Tuesday April 16, 2002
A commonly used herbicide, atrazine, has been linked for the first time to defects in aquatic frogs. Studies conducted at UC Berkeley have found that the chemical commonly used on farms can disrupt hormones and alter sexual development of male African clawed frogs. The defects include a loss of male characteristics such as low testosterone levels, smaller voice boxes, and multiple of mixed sets of male and female gonads.
This study was conducted in the lab by exposing frogs to varying atrazine levels during early development. The results showed that females were seemingly unaffected by the chemical, however male frogs were mutated or feminized. The frogs used in the study, xenopus laeris, are not native to the United States so it is unclear whether this study has implications for wild, native species.
Reproductive defects were found in animals exposed to atrazine concentrations as low as 0.1 parts per billion. Although the environmental protection agency has restricted atrazine use for the past ten years, it is considered safe in drinking water up to 3 parts per billion.
This study shows that even very small amounts of human produced pollutants can have a devastating effect on animals that have to live in a contaminated environment. I feel that much more strict regulations need to be put into place concerning our use of the environment we share with other animals.
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