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http://www.alternatives2toxics.org/herp_database1.htm

 

Deadly Connections Between Amphibians and Pesticides

- Open RAP Database -

 

Media Release - for Immediate Publication

Wednesday December 20, 2006

 

Environmental Group Launches Database of Pesticide Effects on Reptiles and

Amphibians

 

(Eureka, CA) Capping a five-year-long effort, the citizens group Californians

for Alternatives to Toxics (CATs) has created a user-friendly database of the

most recent international research about the effects of pesticide use on

amphibians and reptiles.

 

" By bringing together current research on beleaguered amphibians and reptiles,

we have made this global information readily accessible to academics,

neighborhood activists and students, " said Patty Clary, CATs Programs Director.

 

CATs will update the database as new information becomes available, said Clary.

 

The Reptile, Amphibian and Pesticides database, or RAP, builds on an earlier one

covering literature up to 1998 that was put together by the Canadian Wildlife

Service.

 

" The value of this database is that biologists and other users can easily access

information about the effects of pesticides on amphibians and reptiles drawn

from a variety of sources, " said Marlon Gil, a biologist who compiled the

database for CATs.

 

" Hopefully this will enhance efforts to prevent losses of these species

worldwide. " said Gil, whose frog research has taken him as far afield as West

Africa,

 

The updated research is searchable by species and genus, location of research,

pesticide studied and toxicological effect. It includes a list of 327 scientific

papers published since 1999 on the effects of pesticides on amphibians, as well

as 128 research papers on pesticides' impacts on reptiles.

 

Most have links to summaries or full texts of the papers. The papers are

searchable by keyword, author, title and journal. Links to lists of books and to

sites with related information are also available.

 

Though the research comes from all over the world, it particularly includes

critical in-the-field studies from California that are meshed with findings from

the unique pesticide-use database of the state's Department of Pesticide

Regulation (DPR).

 

California is one of the " hot spots " in the global decline of amphibian

populations, and native aquatic frog and toad species have been disappearing for

two decades.

 

For example, research by the U.S. Geological Survey since 1997 has revealed

dangerous levels of pesticides in both the bodies of frogs and in their aquatic

habitat in pristine areas of the Sierra Nevada. Entire populations of native

frogs have vanished, and research has pinpointed pesticide sprays that have

drifted hundreds of miles from the Central Valley to settle in wilderness areas.

 

Founded in 1982, CATs was a major player in a suit that won increased protection

from pesticides for the red-legged frog--the frog made famous by Mark Twain in

his story " The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. " .

 

Using the state's pesticide-use database, CATs mapped where frog populations

were threatened by the toxic sprays--and identified 66 pesticides that the court

later agreed the EPA must study under provisions of the Endangered Species Act.

 

The database is available at the Californians for Alternatives to Toxics website

(http://alternatives2toxics.pointinspace.com/fmi/iwp). CATs welcomes comments,

suggestions and help with the database. Please contact the database team at CATs

 

 

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