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Atrazine, is one of the world’s most widely used pesticides.
Some 80 million pounds of the herbicide atrazine are applied annually in the United States on corn and sorghum to control weeds and increase crop yield..
Some 80 million pounds of the herbicide atrazine are applied annually in the United States on corn 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.
Atrazine, wreaks havoc with 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 University of California, Berkeley, biologists.
The 75 percent that are chemically castrated are essentially “dead” because of their inability to reproduce in the wild, reports UC Berkeley’s Tyrone B. Hayes, professor of integrative biology.
“These male frogs are missing testosterone and all the things that testosterone controls, including sperm. So their fertility is as low as 10 percent in some cases, and that is only if we isolate those animals and pair them with females,” he said...
“In an environment where they are competing with unexposed animals, they have zero chance of reproducing.”
The 10 percent or more that turn from males into females – something not known to occur under natural conditions in amphibians – can successfully mate with male frogs..
The 10 percent or more that turn from males into females – something 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.
“When we grow these guys up, depending on the family, we will get anywhere from 10 to 50 percent females,” Hayes said.
“When we grow these guys up, depending on the family, we will get anywhere from 10 to 50 percent females,” Hayes said.
“In a population, the genetically male females can decrease or wipe out a population just because they skew sex ratios so badly.”
Though the experiments were performed on a common laboratory frog, the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), field studies indicate that atrazine, a potent endocrine disruptor, similarly affects frogs in the wild..
and could possibly be one of the causes of amphibian declines around the globe, Hayes said.
“These kinds of problems, like sex-reversing animals skewing sex ratios, are much more dangerous than any chemical that would kill off a population of frogs..
“These kinds of problems, like sex-reversing animals skewing sex ratios, are much more dangerous than any chemical that would kill off a population of frogs..
“In exposed populations, it looks like there are frogs breeding but, in fact, the population is being very slowly degraded by the introduction of these altered animals.”
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.
Recent studies also found a possible link between human birth defects and low birth weight and atrazine exposure in the womb...
However, if this study dates from 2010, the Atrazine is still very widely used.
However, if this study dates from 2010, the Atrazine is still very widely used.
The Global Atrazine Market is expected to register a CAGR of 6.07% from 2019 to 2024 and reach USD 2.58 billion by the end of 2024
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