Joan Melcher - More Evidence Linking Pesticides and Malformations Additional studies suggest that common pesticides may be endocrine disruptors, bad news that nonetheless warms the heart of one citizen scientist.

Concern about toxic chemicals in the environment has erupted into the mainstream media again, with new reports tying pesticides to disruption of male hormones, birth defects and cancer.

Andres Carrasco, head of the molecular Embryology Lab at the University of Buenos Aires and chief scientist at the National Council for Science and Technology, linked glyphosate, the active ingredient in the popular herbicide Roundup, to escalating rates of animal birth defects — including cyclopia, where a single eye is present in the center of the forehead), infertility, stillbirths, miscarriages and cancers — in agricultural areas of the country. The result "opens concerns about the clinical findings from human offspring" exposed to the chemical in the same areas, he wrote.

Following up on Carrasco's work, The Ecologist, a British environmental magazine, published a grisly account of the effects of glyphosate liberally sprayed on genetically modified soy crops in Argentina. The story told how Carrasco was assaulted by a mob when he arrived at a rural town where he was to present his findings.

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http://www.miller-mccune.com/environment/more-evidence-linking-pesticides-and-malformations-30560/