The Effects Of Atrazine On Amphibians

Atrazine is one of the most commonly used herbicides in the world; it is estimated that approximately 80 million pounds of atrazine is applied annually in the United States alone (Hayes et al, 2010). Atrazine is used so frequently because it is cheap and it increases crop yield. However, it has been found that atrazine in levels even as low as 2 ppb (parts per billion) can have adverse effects on the reproductive systems of many vertebrates, which includes humans (Hayes et al, 2010). According to Hayes et al’s research (2010), 10% of male African clawed frogs that were induced with 2.5 ppb of Atrazine became females. These feminized African clawed frogs were able to become pregnant, but all of their offsprings were male because the original …show more content…
Some of these scientists include Katti et al (2015), Ji et al (2016), and Marcus and Fiumera (2016). Katti et al (2015) showed that agrochemicals, which includes atrazine, have adverse effects on the reproductive systems of amphibians. One of the effects is a reduction in the number of follicles in amphibians, which shows that agrochemicals have a negative impact on the reproduction system of female amphibians (Katti et al, 2015). Unlike Katti et al (2015), Ji et al (2016) was worried about the impact atrazine had on early embryos. They were worried because it was shown that atrazine has an adverse effect on the reproductive systems of many vertebrates, but no study had been done on its’ impact on early embryos (Ji et al, 2016). Ji et al (2016) found that atrazine shortened the maturation process and had an adverse impact on the development of early embryos (Ji et al, 2016). Although most authors pursued the impacts of atrazine on the reproductive system, Marcus and Fiumera (2016) were concerned about the impact atrazine has on the development on the longevity and body size on humans, so they tested its’ impact on fruit flies. Fruit flies are generally used as a model of humans because they have similar genes to humans. Marcus and Fiumera found out that fruit flies who were induced with atrazine typically had a …show more content…
This prompted many scientist to conduct research on the impact of atrazine on humans. Some of these scientist include Inoue-Choi et al (2016), Albouy-Llaty et al (2016), and Florian et al (2016). Inoue-Choi et al (2016) were worried about whether or not the concentration of atrazine in public water supplies affects the risk of getting ovarian cancer in females. Because atrazine is an endocrine disruptor and ovaries are very hormone sensitive, they believed that atrazine may have an impact on the chance of contracting ovarian cancer (Inoue-Choi et al, 2016). Also, Florian et al (2016) noted that exposure to atrazine is highly correlated with ovarian cancer (Florian et al, 2016). However, their data came up to be non-statistically significant, but they recommended more testing to be done for a more conclusive result (Inoue-Choi et al, 2016). Florian et al (2016) were also worried about the impact of atrazine on humans, but they chose to test its’ impact on the viability of cells. They found that atrazine, cyanazine, and simazine had no statistical significance on the viability of cells at the highest concentration that is deemed safe by EPA (Florian et al, 2016). However, they encourage more testing to be done on the impact of atrazine on humans. Albouy-Llaty et al (2016) were also worried about the impact of atrazine on humans, especially preterm birth.