Bad News To Start the Work Week: Dude Looks Like a Lady

Researchers in Florida have found that in heavily farmed areas, 40% of male toads have abnormalities that make them more like female toads. These reproductive abnormalities are likely to reduce the reproductive success of the toads.

With amphibians on the decline worldwide--there are thousands of species that are threatened or endangered--these ladydude toads are kind of a big deal. Pretty soon, folk singers around the world will be forced to sing "Where have all the cane toads gone?"

Specifically, the researchers found that the number of abnormalities and frequency of male toads with female traits ("intersex" toads) increased with amount of agriculture. Testosterone concentrations were altered and secondary sexual traits were either feminized or demasculinized in the intersex toads.

The authors conclude that: "These reproductive abnormalities could certainly contribute to amphibian population declines occurring in areas exposed to agricultural contaminants."

Anyone who is familiar with the work of Tyrone Hayes of UC Berkeley shouldn't be surprised by this new study. For years, Dr. Hayes has been publishing research showing that the most commonly used herbicide in the US, atrazine, feminizes frogs and turns them into hermaphrodites. Just this past year, Dr. Hayes gave a talk at Michigan that scared the bejesus out of all of us in attendance. Be sure to check out his homepage at: http://www.atrazinelovers.com/

Source: "Agriculture Alters Gonadal Form and Function in the toad Bufo marinus" Environmental Health Perspectives, July 2008 In-Press.