by
Robert W.D. Gorter, MD, PhD.
August 20th, 2024
Bill Gates’ Rainforest Alliance uses the above logo with the frog to identify all products from (sub-) tropical countries like coffee and chocolate, nuts, avocados, etc. that have been laced with Atrazine.
The herbicide Atrazine is currently one of the most commonly applied pesticides in the world. As a result, atrazine is the most commonly detected pesticide contaminant of ground, surface, and drinking water. Atrazine is also a potent endocrine disruptor that is already active at low, ecologically relevant concentrations. Previous studies showed that atrazine adversely affects amphibian larval development. The present study demonstrates the reproductive consequences of Atrazine exposure in adult amphibians. Atrazine-exposed males were both demasculinized (chemically castrated) and completely feminized as adults. Ten percent of the exposed genetic males developed into functional females that copulated with unexposed males and produced viable eggs. Atrazine-exposed males suffered from depressed testosterone, decreased breeding gland size, demasculinized /feminized laryngeal development, and suppressed mating behavior, reduced spermatogenesis, and decreased fertility. These data are consistent with effects of Atrazine observed in other vertebrate classes and in humans. The present findings exemplify the role that Atrazine and other endocrine-disrupting herbicides and pesticides certainly play in global amphibian declines (1).
Demasculinization and feminization of male gonads by atrazine: consistent effects across all studied vertebrate classes
Atrazine is the most commonly detected pesticide contaminant of ground water, surface water, and precipitation. Atrazine is also an endocrine disruptor that, among other effects, alters male reproductive tissues when animals are exposed during development. Here, we apply the nine so-called “Hill criteria” (Strength, Consistency, Specificity, Temporality, Biological Gradient, Plausibility, Coherence, Experiment, and Analogy) for establishing cause-effect relationships to examine the evidence for atrazine as an endocrine disruptor that demasculinizes and feminizes the gonads of male vertebrates. We present experimental evidence that the effects of atrazine on male development are consistent across all vertebrate classes examined and we present a state of the art summary of the mechanisms by which atrazine acts as an endocrine disruptor to produce these effects. Atrazine demasculinizes male gonads producing testicular lesions associated with significantly reduced germ cell numbers in teleost fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals (including humans), and induces partial and/or complete feminization in fish, amphibians, and reptiles. These effects are strong (statistically significant), consistent across vertebrate classes, and specific. Reductions in androgen levels and the induction of estrogen synthesis – demonstrated in fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals – represent plausible and coherent mechanisms that explain these effects. Biological gradients are observed in several of the cited studies, although threshold doses and patterns vary among species. Given that the effects on the male gonads described in all of these experimental studies occurred only after atrazine exposure, temporality is also met here. Thus the case for Atrazine as an endocrine disruptor that demasculinizes and feminizes male vertebrates meets all nine of the “Hill criteria”. (2).
Demasculinization and feminization of male gonads by Atrazine: Consistent effects across all vertebrate classes
Atrazine demasculinizes male gonads producing testicular lesions associated with reduced germ cell numbers in teleost fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, and induces partial and/or complete feminization in fish, amphibians, reptiles. And vertebrae, including humans.
Atrazine is the most commonly detected pesticide contaminant of ground water, surface water, and precipitation. Atrazine is also an endocrine disruptor that, among other effects, alters male reproductive tissues when animals are exposed during development. Here, we apply the nine so-called “Hill criteria” (Strength, Consistency, Specificity, Temporality, Biological Gradient, Plausibility, Coherence, Experiment, and Analogy) for establishing cause–effect relationships to examine the evidence for atrazine as an endocrine disruptor that demasculinizes and feminizes the gonads of male vertebrates. We present experimental evidence that the effects of Atrazine on male development are consistent across all vertebrate classes examined and we present a state of the art summary of the mechanisms by which atrazine acts as an endocrine disruptor to produce these effects.
Atrazine demasculinizes male gonads producing testicular lesions associated with reduced germ cell numbers in teleost fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, and induces partial and/or complete feminization in fish, amphibians, and reptiles. These effects are strong (statistically significant), consistent across vertebrate classes, and specific. Reductions in androgen levels and the induction of estrogen synthesis – demonstrated in fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals – represent plausible and coherent mechanisms that explain these effects. Biological gradients are observed in several of the cited studies, although threshold doses and patterns vary among species. Given that the effects on the male gonads described in all of these experimental studies occurred only after atrazine exposure, temporality is also met here. Thus, the case for Atrazine as an endocrine disruptor that demasculinizes and feminizes all male vertebrates and meets all nine of the “Hill criteria” (3).
An additional way to depopulate the world is to cause infertility in human males and thus, using Atrazine to sterilizing males this way without their consent or noticing.
References:
(1) Atrazine induces complete feminization and chemical castration in male African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Mar 9; 107(10): 4612–4617. Published online 2010 Mar 1. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0909519107
(2) Demasculinization and feminization of male gonads by atrazine: consistent effects across all studied vertebrate classes. PMID: 21419222 PMCID: PMC4303243 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2011.03.015
(3) Atrazine demasculinizes all male gonads producing testicular lesions associated with reduced germ cell numbers in teleost fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, and induces partial and/or complete feminization in fish, amphibians, and reptiles. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsbmb.2011.03.015
(4) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (.gov) https://archive.epa.gov › pdf › atrazine_summary
(5) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (.gov) https://archive.epa.gov › meetings › web › pdf
(6) The herbicide atrazine is one of the most commonly used, well studied, and controversial pesticides on the planet:
https://www.farmlandbirds.net › files › ETC_2007
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