Who said the water is turning the frogs gay

Atrazine exposure disturbs frogs' sexual development

Most notably, American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones cited research on the effects of atrazine on frogs, which can induce spontaneous sex change or hermaphroditism, to claim that the U.S. government was "putting chemicals in the water that turn the friggin’ frogs gay" as part of a "chemical warfare operation" to increase homosexuality and. In a rant that has since become a meme and a line of t-shirts, Jones said he didn't like the government "putting chemicals in the water that turn the friggin' frogs gay." "The majority of frogs.

The baseless claim that chemicals – particularly in tap water – could turn people gay has gained popularity with conspiracy theorists over the years, most memorably with conservative radio host. Prominent provocateur and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones went viral in claiming there were “chemicals in the water that turn the friggin’ frogs gay.” The ridicule was swift and severe.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s claim appears to be based on a University of California, Berkeley study that found that when male frogs were exposed to atrazine, some lost fertility and. He still claims the U. But he didn't whom said the water is turning the frogs gay tell the story that frogs were changing gender, Jones said that the U. Recent studies also found a possible link between human birth defects and low birth weight and atrazine exposure in the womb.

If raised in a pond with estrogen, for example, all Xenopus tadpoles turn into females. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Cite This! As Hayes later discovered, many atrazine-contaminated ponds in the Midwest contain native leopard frogs with the same abnormalities. Scholars in queer ecologies, a subfield that explores the intersection of queer theory and environmental studies, have probed how representations of whom said the water is turning the frogs gay disruption in popular culture are imbued with normative judgments about the desirability of human sexual variability.

Fertility rates in people, in the US for example are dropping too. Cancel reply. For his laboratory tests, he used the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, a popular research subject that, like many frogs, is very sensitive to hormones that mimic the effect of their own sex hormones. The study was intended to determine the cause of a worldwide decline in amphibian populations.

On average, it improves corn yield by slightly more than four percent. The study concluded that atrazine and other hormone-disrupting pollutants were affecting amphibian populations. Hayes now is trying to determine how the abnormalities affect the frogs' ability to produce offspring. And many males had lower testosterone levels than normal females and smaller than normal voice boxes, presumably limiting their ability to call mates.

Giesy, a professor of zoology at Michigan State University in East Lansing, and his colleagues found last year that, at large doses, atrazine ups production of the enzyme aromatase, which converts androgen hormones to estrogen hormones. The lowered androgens would interfere with voice box development, while increased estrogens would promote ovaries within the testes.

As if that wasn't strange enough on its own, the story got even stranger when InfoWars host and right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones picked it up. Hayes, associate professor of integrative biology, and his colleagues report that atrazine at levels often found in the environment demasculinizes tadpoles and turns them into hermaphrodites - creatures with both male and female sexual characteristics.

Even with today's limits, levels of 40 ppb atrazine have been measured in rain and spring water in parts of the Midwest, while atrazine in agricultural runoff can be present at several parts per million. By Robert Sanders. The changes he found in the gonads were not discovered with the traditional high-dose atrazine experiments used in the past. A photograph in the article shows two frogs in amplexus—the mating position of frogs, where one frog clasps the lower back of another fig.

These representations perpetuate transmisogyny, a term from feminist theory that describes discrimination against trans women, who are impacted by both transphobia and misogyny. Aquatic life, however, swim and breed in atrazine-contaminated field runoff. A National Geographic article opens with the Hayes et al. Coincidentally, another lab in discovered a sex-linked genetic marker in Xenopuswhich has allowed Hayes to confirm the genetic sex of his frogs.

Hayes, professor of integrative biology.