Herbicide Atrazine Causes Sexual Dysphoria

Larry A. Law

I wrote about Atrazine in my book, There's An Elephant in the Room—Exposing Hidden Truths in the Science of Health (page 78) and I have a webinar titled Endocrine Disruptors that provides  even more details. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. participated in a podcast with Jordan Peterson on June 5, 2023. Among other things, he mentioned the herbicide atrazine as a possible cause of sexual dysphoria particularly with boys. The podcast was censored and deleted by YouTube (apparently they are the dictatorial enforcer of what constitutes 'misinformation') but fortunately a few social media platforms still allow freedom of speech (especially for U.S. Presidential candidates), so you can find the interview on Twitter (the link is available here). 

Scientific Study

Kennedy explained that atrazine can be found "throughout our water supply." He noted that the "huge levels of depression" seen in our youth today and the "sexual dysphoria that we're seeing" may be the result of toxic chemicals. He backed up his perceptions with a study conducted by Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, Tyronne B. Hayes, and published in March 2010 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study mentioned that atrazine was "one of the most commonly used pesticides in the world, as well as the most commonly detected pesticide contaminant." It spreads through rain and has been detected 620 miles from its application site. Even at low levels, it is a dangerous endocrine disruptor and shows adverse effects like lowering testosterone and shrinking testicles and male reproductive organs. At only 2.5 parts per billion (ppb), this herbicide has been shown to feminize the male African clawed frog. Ninety percent of the male frogs exposed to atrazine looked male, but due to decreased testosterone had decreased sperm production, decreased testicle size, suppressed mating behavior, and feminized vocal development. 

Males Turned Into Female Frogs

The most disturbing feature observed was that ten percent of the males developed into fully functioning female frogs. They developed ovaries and produced viable eggs. In fact, two of these male-turned-female frogs were mated with males from the control group and produced offspring! What was inescapable though, was that since they still were biologically male (they had male chromosomes), their offspring were always male because the mating pair did not have any female chromosomes. This situation, if continued, would have resulted in the eventual extinction of the entire species. In 2018, Hayes elaborated on how this process of feminization worked. Atrazine induced the activation of an enzyme called aromatase. Aromatase converts androgens (hormones important to male sexual development) to various forms of the female hormone estrogen. So, aromatase converted the testosterone into estrogen which resulted in the feminization of all the atrazine-exposed frogs. Hayes believed that humans would not have the same extreme egg-producing reaction as amphibians and reptiles do, when exposed to atrazine. However, atrazine exposure would be sure to promote breast and prostate cancer. This was proven in a 1997 study of women in Kentucky who were exposed to well-water containing atrazine (published in Environmental Health Perspectives). 

Big Pharma Involvement

Aromatase is so important as a cause of breast cancer that a non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor called Letrozole was developed by the pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG. One of its subsidiaries, Novartis Crop Protection, actually was one of only 6 companies in 2003 registered to manufacture products containing atrazine. So, as frequently happens, the same pharmaceutical company was responsible for causing the disease, and then sold the approved treatment benefiting both ways! In the two decades since, Novartis Crop Protection merged with AstraZeneca Agrochemicals forming Syngenta. Syngenta was acquired by ChemChina in 2017. Interesting how Communist China is now able to sponsor death, disease, and sexual dysphoria inside America without any mainstream media attention!

Atrazine Statistics

Between 2013 and 2017, an annual average of 72 million pounds of atrazine was used in agriculture. Atrazine is a restricted-use herbicide and is not available to the general public. But as of July 2022, it is used in the production of field corn, sweet corn, sorghum, sugarcane, macadamia nuts, and guava. It is also used in nursery and/or ornamental plantings, turf, and right-of-way areas (not roadsides). It is a 2 billion dollar industry, but as of 2021, it is now prohibited in Hawaii, Alaska, and U.S. territories. Unfortunately, after 50 years of use, it is still plentiful in our soil and waterways because it is slow to break down in nature. 

If you would like more information on the dangerous power of pesticides, herbicides, and phthalates as endocrine disruptors and causes of sexual dysphoria, I recommend Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax. I also recommend Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier, which focuses on how the transgender craze has seduced many of our daughters.