Pesticides, fertilizers, the villain behind the frog Decline

A field survey led by Jason Rohr of the University of South Florida has come up with the finding that chemical Atrazine in fertilizers is the villain behind the decline of frogs in US. Atrazine harms the amphibians' immune defenses against infection. The effects of this chemical is boosted in the wild by phosphate fertilizers. Runoff from fertilizers into ponds encourages the proliferation of snails which acts as a natural host to the flatworm parasite. The flatworms, called trematodes, cause limb malformations, kidney damage and sometimes death in several species of frog. Atrazine is manufactured by a Swiss-based company, Syngenta