[savethefrogs]

The US Environmental Protection Agency is now seeking public comments regarding a potential ban on Atrazine, one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States. The EPA's call for comments was prompted by 10,012 petition signatures received from SAVE THE FROGS! supporters, and over 50,000 emails from supporters of the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The call for comments appeared in the September 14th, 2011 Federal Register, the official journal of the Government of the United States.

View the Federal Register entry here:
Federal Register | Petition Requesting Ban on Use and Production of Atrazine; Notice of Availability

Submit your comments here:
Regulations.gov

You can read my submission to the EPA here:
http://www.savethefrogs.com/actions...azine-Call-For-Comments-Kriger-Submission.pdf

Learn all about Atrazine and the work SAVE THE FROGS1 has done to get it banned, here:
Atrazine: The 21st Century's DDT

The commenting period ends November 14th, so please don't delay.

Thanks for your support!
Dr. Kerry Kriger,
SAVE THE FROGS! Founder, Executive Director & Ecologist
Kerry Kriger

 

[Ed]

Hmm.... there is a decent amount of conflicting data on the impact of atrazine on anurans....
See for example Does atrazine influence larval development and s... [Toxicol Sci. 2009] - PubMed - NCBI

It also has not been shown to cause cancer... see for example Atrazine Updates | Pesticides | US EPA ..

I'll cede the significant endocrine disruption in people and fish... which in and of itself sufficient to increase regulations but as a threat to amphibians, I'm not seeing the data...

Ed

 

[Woodsman]

The more we can reduce the horrible soup of chemicals that we live in, the better. Studies that do not take into account the cummulative effects of environmental toxins often miss the real toll herbicides and pesticides take on the natural world.

Richard.

 

[Roadrunner]

And the untested synergistic effects.

The more we can reduce the horrible soup of chemicals that we live in, the better. Studies that do not take into account the cummulative effects of environmental toxins often miss the real toll herbicides and pesticides take on the natural world.

Richard.

 

[Ed]

The more we can reduce the horrible soup of chemicals that we live in, the better. Studies that do not take into account the cummulative effects of environmental toxins often miss the real toll herbicides and pesticides take on the natural world.

Richard.

Richard, I noted that it should be banned simply for the impact on fish and humans. My problem is that this is using incorrect and/or incomplete data as it's cause célèbre as the basis for the issue. I am all for reducing exposure to chemicals that contaminate groundwater and other things. What I am not in favor of is lying about the facts to push a cause forward.

Ed

 

[Afemoralis]

I know there has been serious questions raised about the scientific integrity of the 'no-problem-with-atrazine' camp.

Check out:

Atrazine Paper

and

Environmental Health Perspectives: A Qualitative Meta-Analysis Reveals Consistent Effects of Atrazine on Freshwater Fish and Amphibians

Several studies on endocrine disruption in amphibians have had to use proximity to 'agriculture' as a proxy for atrazine exposure due to legal threats.

Agriculture Alters Gonadal Form and Function in the Toad Bufo marinus

 

[Ed]

I know there has been serious questions raised about the scientific integrity of the 'no-problem-with-atrazine' camp.

Check out:

Atrazine Paper

and

Environmental Health Perspectives: A Qualitative Meta-Analysis Reveals Consistent Effects of Atrazine on Freshwater Fish and Amphibians

Several studies on endocrine disruption in amphibians have had to use proximity to 'agriculture' as a proxy for atrazine exposure due to legal threats.

Agriculture Alters Gonadal Form and Function in the Toad Bufo marinus

The problem is also with the atrazine causes issues camp as well in that a number of thier claims could not be reproduced or were only reproducable at much higher levels.
This link Does atrazine influence larval development and s... [Toxicol Sci. 2009] - PubMed - NCBI that I provided in my first post was because of the issues by both sides. This study was done in two independent labs using the best criteria which is why I stated there is a lot of conflicting data. The issue with the anurans isn't as clear cut as was noted in the claims of the original post. In addition if you go to the save the frogs website, you can see that they totally ignored all of the data that didn't agree with them, skewed the cancer claim....

This doesn't mean that I don't think it should be banned... my problem is with the funky claims....

 

[Afemoralis]

I think the 2010 meta-analysis does it for me.

Afemoralis

 

[Woodsman]

This is starting to sound like an add for DOW Chemical. My mother remembers playing in the cloud of smoke that the DDT sprayer would leave in its wake. MMM, DDT.

Richard.

 

[motydesign]

in these studies ive always wondered if they are able to account for the synergy that a chemical can have when introduced to the an environment were other chemicals are present vs when testing by its self in a lab?

sorry for the side statement, but i agree with not using propaganda when there is solid evidence else where that creates a better argument... screw the frogs, save me first!!!

 

[Ed]

in these studies ive always wondered if they are able to account for the synergy that a chemical can have when introduced to the an environment were other chemicals are present vs when testing by its self in a lab?

sorry for the side statement, but i agree with not using propaganda when there is solid evidence else where that creates a better argument... screw the frogs, save me first!!!

Yes. There are a lot of studies that utilize more than one exposure see for example this abstract Effect of chemical synergy and larval stage on the toxicity of atrazine and alachlor to amphibian larvae - Howe - 2009 - Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry - Wiley Online Library

Ed

 

[Enlightened Rogue]

My frogs are doing just fine thank you, in their little glass boxes.

John