Stronger controls urged on chemicals in water

Citing the decline in frogs and rise of "frankenfish," a Bay Area environmental group filed a legal petition Monday for tighter federal standards on pollutants that disrupt the hormones of humans and wildlife. The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the U.S. Environmental Agency to beef up criteria under the Clean Water Act for pesticides, pharmaceuticals and other endocrine disruptors that leak through the water-treatment process and contaminate groundwater and drinking-water supplies. "We've found that a very small concentration of these chemicals can have profound reproductive effects," said Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity in San Francisco. Of particular concern is atrazine, the second most common herbicide in the world, said UC Berkeley biology professor Tyrone Hayes, who specializes in endocrine disruptors and their effect on frogs. Atrazine, which is banned in Europe, appears to affect estrogen production in frogs and other creatures, leading to fertility problems, cancer and birth defects, he said...read more