FROG DEFORMITIES LINKED TO PESTICIDES, PARASITES Penn States University researchers have linked deformities in local wood frogs to a combination of infection by parasites and a weakening of their immune system caused by exposure to pesticides. The researchers obtained the results by conducting the studies in ponds where the animals live. The discoveries, which show the effect of environmental stress on disease outbreaks, may help to explain how disease affects the distribution, growth, development, and survival of frogs, which have been disappearing during recent years at alarming rates worldwide. "It is not uncommon now for 20 to 30 percent of the frogs at many locations to have limb deformities," researchers said. Since the early 1990s, when school children and amateur naturalists first began finding frogs with deformed legs in U.S. wetlands, scientists have been tracking the problem. These deformities in frogs have a chilling resemblance to the deformities in human caused decades ago by the drug Thalidomide. "Both the general public and scientists suspect that whatever is causing these problems in frogs may also cause harm to humans," the researchers said. United Press International, 7/09/02 Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.