BLACK A4
DAILY 03-02-10 MD SU A4 BLACK
A4 The Nation
S KLMNO TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2010
Study: Weedkiller can create ‘hormone havoc’ in frogs
be that atrazine is absorbed
through the frogs’ skin and turns
on a gene that, in male frogs,
should stay off. It produces an en-
becoming so completely female business giant Syngenta, says re- Hayes, a professor at the Univer- that developed in the water be- zyme that converts testosterone
Report blames Atrazine
that they can mate and lay viable search has proven that the chem- sity of California at Berkeley, ap- came “functionally female,” Hayes into estrogen, flooding the frog’s
eggs. ical is safe for animals and for peared to show an even more said. The eggs they produced after body with the wrong chemical sig-
for male sex mutations; The study, published online people, who could be exposed to drastic transformation: Some mating hatched; the offspring nals.
EPA begins new review
Monday in the Proceedings of the trace amounts in drinking water. male frogs became female, in ev- were all male, because both par- He said the findings should
National Academy of Sciences, But in recent years, a series of erything but their genes. ents contributed male genes. raise alarms about human health.
seems likely to add to the atten- scientific studies have seemed to Hayes’s study examined a The other 90 percent of the ex- “It’s a chemical . . . that causes
by David A. Fahrenthold tion focused on a weedkiller that show atrazine interfering with the group of 40 African clawed frogs, posed frogs retained some male hormone havoc,” Hayes said. “You
is widely used on cornfields. The hormone systems that guide de- all of which carried male chromo- features, Hayes said, but often need to look at things that are af-
A new study has found that Environmental Protection Agen- velopment in fish, birds, rats and somes. When they were tadpoles, had lower testosterone levels and fecting wildlife, and realize that,
male frogs exposed to the herbi- cy, which re-approved the use of frogs. In many cases, the result he put them in water tainted with fertility. When competing for biologically, we’re not that differ-
cide atrazine — one of the most atrazine in 2006, has already be- has been “feminized” males, with 2.5 parts per billion of atrazine — female frogs’ attentions, atrazine- ent.”
common man-made chemicals gun a new evaluation of its poten- behaviors or body parts more like still within the EPA’s drinking wa- treated males frequently lost out Hayes’s findings run counter to
found in U.S. waters — can make a tial health effects. those of females. ter standards. to males that hadn’t been treated. the EPA’s most recent ruling on
startling developmental U-turn, Its manufacturer, Swiss agri- The new study, led by Tyrone About 10 percent of the frogs Hayes said the problem could the subject, in 2007. After review-
ing scientific evidence — includ-
ing earlier work by Hayes that
seemed to indicate other trou-
bling changes in frogs — the EPA
THEWAYFORWARD
concluded that there was no evi-
dence atrazine was causing ad-
verse impacts on the amphibians’
development.
On Monday, Syngenta officials
said the EPA’s finding should set-
tle the issue.
“They were quite convinced
that the question of whether atra-
zine affects frogs’ sexual devel-
opment is answered,” said Tim
Pastoor, Syngenta’s principal sci-
entist. “And that answer is no, it
doesn’t.”
Syngenta officials referred a re-
porter to Keith Solomon, a profes-
sor at the University of Guelph in
Canada, who said he had ques-
tions about Hayes’s work. He said
no other studies, including those
on African clawed frogs living
near atrazine-laden fields in Afri-
ca, found this level of effect.
Hayes’s work may be “irrel-
evant in the big picture” because
it hasn’t been repeated elsewhere,
Solomon said. He said he had re-
ceived funding from Syngenta for
previous research, but that it had
not biased his work.
Atrazine, first approved in the
United States in 1958, has been
used to keep weeds from crowd-
ing out young corn plants as they
grow. Studies show it has washed
off farm fields with the rain, and
become pervasive in U.S. streams.
In the Washington region, atra-
zine has been found in the Poto-
mac, Monocacy and Shenandoah
rivers, where investigators are
trying to determine whether it is
related to male bass in the Poto-
mac found to be growing eggs.
On area farms, atrazine is an
important tool of corn growers,
said Lynne Hoot of the Maryland
Grain Producers Association. But
Hoot said atrazine is used less to-
day: About 70 percent of corn and
soybeans grown in the state are
genetically designed to work bet-
ter with the herbicide Roundup.
Atrazine is “still very impor-
tant,” she said.
fahrenthold@washpost.com
Ark. lieutenant
governor to
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Sen. Lincoln
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by Chris Cillizza
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Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter
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ities, progressives expected more
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a significant role in the early stag-
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quent disappointment with the
administration.
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further complicates a reelection
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Republicans.
Recent polls have shown Lin-
coln trailing a little-known Re-
publican field led by Rep. John
BasedontheoverwhelmingsupportfromtheFacebookcommunity,wewillcontinueChase
Boozman and her being potential-
ly vulnerable to a challenge from
within the Democratic Party.
CommunityGivinginthemonthstocome.AtChase,wearecommittedtomakingcommunity
In a video announcing his
plans, Halter, first elected as lieu-
tenant governor in 2006, seemed
engagement an integral part of our philanthropic approach.
to offer a critique not just of the
Democratic incumbent but also of
the Obama administration.
“Washington is broken,” Halter
said, picking up on an anti-Wash-
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ington theme that helped Repub-
lican Scott Brown score a stun-
ning upset in a Massachusetts
Senate special election last
month.
“Bailing out Wall Street with no
strings attached . . . protecting in-
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®
surance company profits instead
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of patients.”
chris.cillizza@wpost.com
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