Corn & Sugar Crop Pesticide Harms Frogs

Everyone jokes about the toxic chemicals used in the agricultural industry, only many of us don’t really know what the effects are on the environment or our health. New research is showing the specific effects that one of the commonly used weed killers has on frogs. Scientists at UC Berkeley have just released their findings about the effects that the hericide Atrazine has on the reproductive organs of frogs. “The effects of atrazine in the long term have been shown to demasculinize or chemically castrate [frogs], combined with complete feminization of some animals,” said lead researcher Tyrone B. Hayes, a biologist and herpetologist at the University of Berkeley. Atrazine is a favorite among corn and sugar farmers in the U.S. because it is cheap. The European Union banned it in 2004 due to the residual levels found in water not meeting the EU’s regulatory levels. Scientists are continually conducting research, like the UC Berkeley study, that does not shine a good light on Atrazine. The only testing that shows it to be safe comes from research that is funded by the Atrazine makers themselves. Read the full report here.

The post Corn & Sugar Crop Pesticide Harms Frogs appeared first on HEALTHandMED.