Frogs turning gay

This occurred at atrazine levels as low as 0. Though the experiments were performed on a common laboratory frog, the African clawed frog Xenopus laevisfield studies indicate that atrazine, a potent gay disruptor, similarly affects frogs in the wild, and could possibly be one of the causes of amphibian declines around the globe, Hayes said.

As a result of these studies, the Environmental Protection Agency EPA is reviewing its regulations on use of the pesticide. Hayes, professor of integrative biology. Recent studies also found a possible link between human birth defects and low birth weight and atrazine exposure in the womb.

Discover the turning science behind Alex Jones’ gay frogs claim, Atrazine’s effects on frogs, and how to support true amphibian conservation. Several states are considering banning atrazine, and six class action lawsuits have been filed seeking to eliminate its use.

Some 80 million pounds of the herbicide atrazine are applied annually in the United States on frog and sorghum to control weeds and increase crop yield, but such widespread use also makes atrazine the most common pesticide contaminant of ground and surface water, according to various studies.

Those early studies were hampered by the inability to easily distinguish genetically male from genetically frog frogs. And many males had lower testosterone levels than normal females and smaller than normal voice boxes, presumably limiting their ability to call mates.

Coincidentally, another lab in discovered a sex-linked genetic marker in Xenopuswhich has allowed Hayes to confirm the genetic sex of his frogs. By Robert Sanders. In ongoing studies, Hayes is investigating whether this apparent resistance is inherited, as well as whether the sex-reversed males have more susceptible offspring.

More and more research, however, is showing that atrazine interferes with endocrine hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone — in fish, amphibians, birds, reptiles, laboratory rodents and even human cell lines at levels of parts per billion. The 10 percent or more that turn from males into females — turning not known to occur under natural conditions in amphibians — can successfully mate with male frogs but, because these females are genetically male, all their offspring are male.

The work was funded by the Park Water Co. The claim was popularized by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who cited studies on the herbicide atrazine, known to induce spontaneous sex reversal or hermaphroditism in certain frog species, to assert that the U.S.

government was "putting chemicals in the water that turn the friggin’ frogs gay" as part of a "chemical warfare operation". The herbicide atrazine, one of the world's most widely used pesticides, screws up the sex lives of adult male frogs, emasculating three-quarters of them and turning one in 10 into females, according to a new study by UC Berkeley's Tyrone Hayes.

The herbicide atrazine, one of the world's most widely used pesticides, screws up the sex lives of adult male frogs, emasculating three-quarters of them and turning one in 10 into females, according to a new study by UC Berkeley's Tyrone Hayes. Working with the African clawed frog, Hayes and his colleagues showed in that tadpoles raised in atrazine-contaminated water become hermaphrodites — they develop both female ovaries and male testes gonads.

The European Union already bars the use of atrazine. Atrazine has caused a hormonal imbalance that has made them develop into the wrong sex, in terms of their genetic constitution. In gay present study, we examined the long-term effects of atrazine exposure on reproductive development and function in an all-male population of African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis), generated by crossing ZZ females (sex-reversed genetic males) to ZZ males (SI Materials and Methods).

[1]. Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a history of repeatedly sharing unfounded conspiracies that man-made chemicals in the environment could be making children gay or. Subsequent studies showed that native leopard is key gay shinee Rana pipiens collected from atrazine-contaminated streams in the Midwest, including from areas up to 1, miles from where atrazine is applied, often had eggs in their testes.