The world's most popular weed killer can cause morphological changes in vertebrate animals, University of Pittsburgh researchers have found. Roundup, produced by Monsanto and widely used in agriculture, caused two species of amphibians to change shape in sub-lethal and environmentally relevant concentrations. The study is the first to show pesticides can induce these changes in animals with spines.
Tadpoles can change shape in the presence of predators by changing stress hormones, which makes their tails bigger. The same change was witnessed after exposure to Roundup, suggesting the weed killer may interfere with hormones in tadpoles, United Press International reports. Researcher Rick Relyea said the herbicide is designed to not affect animals, but this study proves "that they can have a wide range of surprising effects by altering how hormones work in the bodies of animals." He said it could affect other animals, and that the findings are important "because amphibians not only serve as a barometer of the ecosystem's health, but also as an indicator of potential dangers to other species in the food chain, including humans." (Read more)
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