Are frogs gay

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. By Robert Sanders. Hayes, professor of integrative biology. 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.

Press Releases. Image Downloads. Popular weed killer demasculinizes frogs, disrupts their sexual development, UC Berkeley study shows 04 April By Robert Sanders, Media Relations.

In , biologist Dr. Although the manufacturer of Atrazine, Syngenta, argues that the pesticide is safe, Hayes and other scientists have increasingly demonstrated a link between Atrazine and threats to public health and the environment. In this essay, I examine the role of gendered rhetoric in scientific and popular representations of this controversy. Hayes et al.

Its widespread use as a herbicide in industrial farming and corn production has been hotly contested over its environmental impacts. European regulators have banned it for its impact on the environment. In fact, the last time Trump was president, EPA increased the amount of atrazine it considered safe for frogs and other aquatic organisms, in a move that the Biden-era EPA later criticized as politically motivated rather than science-based. Chemical regulations are often a niche topic, debated only in environmental circles.