- LONDON (Reuters) - One of
the world's most popular weedkillers, atrazine, is common in water and
could be tending to have a sex-change effect on amphibian creatures, according
to a report on Wednesday.
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- American scientists have discovered a strong link between
atrazine and hermaphrodite tendencies observed in wild leopard frogs across
the U.S. Midwest.
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- The research by a team from the University of California
at Berkeley is published in the science journal Nature.
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- The team took water samples at various locations and
found that only one site had atrazine levels below their detection limit.
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- "This site was the only locality where testicular
oocytes were not observed in the local population of leopard frogs,"
they wrote. Oocytes are egg mother cells.
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- The scientists said atrazine was the most commonly used
herbicide in the United States and probably in the world and was found
in high concentrations even in non-farming areas.
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- "The hermaphroditism was not evident in the absence
of atrazine exposure. We conclude that atrazine is responsible for these
effects in wild populations even though other contaminants may be present
that could produce similar effects," they said.
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- The report also warned that the sex change effects might
not be limited to leopard frogs, but might be a threat to all amphibian
species.
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- "As its effects are not restricted to a single species,
it is possible that this herbicide may pose a threat to amphibians in general,"
it said.
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- "Most water sources in the United States, including
rain, contain more atrazine than the effective doses determined in laboratory
studies," the report said.
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- It concluded with a call for further investigations into
the link between atrazine and sex organ abnormalities in amphibians.
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