A study by Berkeley Professor Tyrone Hayes is reporting that 10% of male frogs raised in atrazine-laced water containing 2.5 parts per billion of atrazine, a herbicide, not only have female sex characteristics, including eggs, but they will attract and successfully mate with normal male frogs!

The most astonishing thing is that this happened with an extremely small amount of atrazine, 2.5 parts per billion (ppb). A ppb is really small, a drop in a large tanker truck. In fact, it is pretty close to the average amount of atrazine that the Environmental Protection Agency allows to contaminate our tap water, which is 3 ppb regulated as an annual average.

Another study from the American Journal of Pediatrics reveal that more U.S. girls are starting puberty younger, with large percentages developing breasts and pubic hair as early as seven. This study of 1,239 girls in Harlem, Cincinnati and the San Francisco area found 23.4 percent of African American girls, 14.9 percent of Hispanic girls and 10.4 percent of white girls develop breasts by the age of seven. Twenty percent of seven-year-old African American girls had pubic hair, as did around 6.5 percent of white and Hispanic girls, the study found.

The alarming figures are a big jump compared to a similar study published in 1997. Back then, only five percent of seven-year-old white girls and around 15 percent of African American girls of the same age were developing breasts. Negative impacts associated with early puberty in girls include increased risk of breast or endometrial cancer later in life, and psychological troubles ranging from low self-esteem and eating problems to depression and suicide.

The survey found that nearly one out of 10 (9.2%) American children 18 years of age and younger currently suffers from asthma. This figure is comparable to the most current estimate
of the National Center for Health Statistics, which estimates that 8.8% of children 18 years of age and younger have the disease.”

Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life… affecting an estimated 1 in 250 births (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2003)… Based on statistics from the U.S. Department of Education and other governmental agencies, autism is growing at a rate of 10-17% a year.”

O.K. if that’s not enough to convince you to stand up and speak out you just need to read the report from Michigan. An Ann Arbor-based coalition of health and environmental groups examined direct and indirect costs of four childhood diseases linked to environmental toxicants: lead poisoning, asthma, pediatric cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders. The study found treating those disorders costs Michigan an average of $5.85 billion each year.

Enough is enough.  Let’s stop the poisoning of innocent life and save taxpayers money.