What does Tyrone Hayes do when none of a multitude of studies show that atrazine harms wildlife?
Publish a “review” of all of them and claim there’s something going on.
From a University of Illinois media release:
An international team of researchers has reviewed the evidence linking exposure to atrazine – an herbicide widely used in the U.S. and more than 60 other nations – to reproductive problems in animals. The team found consistent patterns of reproductive dysfunction in amphibians, fish, reptiles and mammals exposed to the chemical.
Except that the only “consistency” is inconsistency (not a hallmark of science!):
… “One of the things that became clear in writing this paper is that atrazine works through a number of different mechanisms,” Hayes said. “It’s been shown that it increases production of (the stress hormone) cortisol. It’s been shown that it inhibits key enzymes in steroid hormone production while increasing others. It’s been shown that it somehow prevents androgen from binding to its receptor”…
There also are studies that show no effects – or different effects – in animals exposed to atrazine, [co-author Val] Beasley said. “But the studies are not all the same. There are different species, different times of exposure, different stages of development and different strains within a species.”
Hayes‘ “review” is a transparent attempt to keep his fading anti-atrazine crusade alive.
He’s reached his usual pre-determined anti-atrazine conclusion by compiling a bunch of nothing and hoping that together they make something. But a multitude time zero is still zero.