Common Herbicide Causes a Sex Change In Frogs

MikeChino writes "The University of California Berkeley recently released a study that found the herbicide atrazine causes perfectly healthy genetically male frogs to grow up to be reproductive adult females. Atrazine is one of the most commonly used herbicides in the world, and it is also the most commonly found water pollutant in North America. Outlawed in Europe in 2003 after some disturbing links to prostate and breast cancer surfaced, in the US over 80 million pounds are dumped every year. The EPA regulates atrazine and has set the legal limit at 3 parts per billion; however, the University of California Berkeley study used only 2.5 parts per billion, proving that even the legal limit can be dangerous."