Sludge Watch ==> Flushing away our future: wastewater putting frogs on endangered list

[Maureen Reilly]

Flushing away our future; As estrogen-laced waterways seem to be effectively 
putting frogs on The Pill, other links in the food chain are being weakened

The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
Sat 04 Aug 2007
Page: E1 / FRONT
Section: Weekend Extra
Byline: Kenyon Wallace
Source: The StarPhoenix

The key to the world's declining frog populations might be swimming in a 
tank in the underbelly of the University of Ottawa.

Water oxygenators hum in a tiny, high-humidity basement lab, sending oxygen 
to hundreds of frogs -- test subjects for the effects humans are having on 
the survival of amphibians. And so far, the evidence is damning.

"There's a recognized worldwide decline in frogs," says Vance Trudeau, a 
University of Ottawa biologist who has been investigating the phenomenon for 
decades. "Common pharmaceuticals, habitat destruction, and increased UV 
exposure because of ozone depletion -- that's what we're looking at."

According to Environment Canada, populations of 16 of Canada's 45 amphibian 
species, or 36 per cent, have declined to the extent that they have been 
designated as endangered, threatened or of special concern.

The walls of Trudeau's laboratory are covered with posters of frogs, the 
shelves packed with test tubes, microscope slides, and computer monitors 
displaying cross-sections of frog cells.

Trudeau believes the chemicals we flush down our toilets and drains are 
wreaking havoc on our ecosystems. The idea isn't new. But Trudeau is on a 
mission. His research, a collaboration between the University of Ottawa and 
Environment Canada, is trying to establish a direct link between common 
pharmaceuticals such as estrogen from the contraceptive pill, and the 
disrupted reproductive patterns of frogs.

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