Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Less is More
Less is More
As seen in the latest Science News (1) ($ subscription article) tadpoles exposed to low levels of a common herbicide (Atrizine) have a greater death rate than ones exposed to higher levels. This finding is another in a series of recent findings (2)($ subscription article) that show that the ill effects of some pollutants are worse when those pollutants are at lower concentrations. The basic reason for why this might be is unknown, but there is some speculation that the hormonal system may be tuned to interact with chemicals only at very low concentrations.
(1) Science News, July 10, 2004; Vol. 166, No. 2, p. 20
(2) Science News, Oct. 12, 2002; Vol. 162, No. 15, p. 228
Other references and sources available from Science News (free access)
Keywords:Pollution , Pesticides , Amphibians
As seen in the latest Science News (1) ($ subscription article) tadpoles exposed to low levels of a common herbicide (Atrizine) have a greater death rate than ones exposed to higher levels. This finding is another in a series of recent findings (2)($ subscription article) that show that the ill effects of some pollutants are worse when those pollutants are at lower concentrations. The basic reason for why this might be is unknown, but there is some speculation that the hormonal system may be tuned to interact with chemicals only at very low concentrations.
(1) Science News, July 10, 2004; Vol. 166, No. 2, p. 20
(2) Science News, Oct. 12, 2002; Vol. 162, No. 15, p. 228
Other references and sources available from Science News (free access)
Keywords:
