LGBT chemicals conspiracy theory explained

Beginning in the 2010s, various media personalities promoted conspiracy theories claiming that exposure to endocrine disrupting chemical pollutants in the water supply are responsible for an alleged increase in the gay or transgender population. Claims of an increase in these populations and a link between chemical exposure and sexual development in humans have not been supported by scientific evidence; such claims appear to be a conflation with research suggesting endocrine disruptors can have a feminizing effect on the genital development of non-human animals.[1] [2]

Animal testing in the 2000s suggested that the herbicide atrazine, an endocrine disruptor, may have a feminizing effect on male frogs causing them to become hermaphrodites.[3] [4] Other research failed to reproduce these results in frogs,[5] [6] though reports of reproductive impact has been reported for other animals, and a meta-analysis conducted in 2010[7] on selected amphibians and freshwater fish showed sublethal reproductive effects at ecologically relevant concentrations. Reviewing 19 studies in total, the United States Environmental Protection Agency concluded in 2013 that atrazine has no consistent effects on development in amphibians.[8]

In 2015, American conspiracy theorist and radio personality Alex Jones claimed that atrazine had caused a majority of frogs in the US to become homosexual, and that the US government was waging a "chemical warfare operation" to increase rates of homosexuality and decrease birth rates.[9] [10] This claim, which is far beyond what was originally reported in the scientific literature, subsequently became an internet meme.[11] [12]

This idea of a link between atrazine and gender was later revived by American politician and environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suggested that gender dysphoria in children might be associated to atrazine contamination of water. Kennedy's theory was criticized in various popular media outlets,[2] [13] [14] and evidence of the correlation between endocrine disorders and gender dysphoria remains unclear.

Scientific consensus, as summarized in a 2016 review in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, is that there is "no persuasive evidence that the rate of same-sex attraction has varied much across time or place". In contrast to claims about chemicals in the water, the effects of hormones on sexual orientation appear to occur at the prenatal stage, during organization of the brain.[15] Endocrine disruptor exposure during fetal development has been shown to affect sexual differentiation of the brain in animals, however any effect on human sexual orientation or gender identity requires further research.

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kaczynski . Andrew . Turner . Abby . July 13, 2023 . Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeatedly suggested that chemicals in water are impacting sexuality of children. July 20, 2023 . CNN Politics.
  2. Web site: Contreras . Russell . Holzman . Jael . July 5, 2023 . Fringe gender-chemical theory goes mainstream . Axios.
  3. Hayes . Tyrone . Haston . Kelly . Tsui . Mable . Hoang . Anhthu . Haeffele . Cathryn . Vonk . Aaron . 2002 . Feminization of male frogs in the wild . Nature . en . 419 . 6910 . 895–896 . 10.1038/419895a . 12410298 . 4364535 . 1476-4687.
  4. Hayes . Tyrone B. . Khoury . Vicky . Narayan . Anne . Nazir . Mariam . Park . Andrew . Brown . Travis . Adame . Lillian . Chan . Elton . Buchholz . Daniel . Stueve . Theresa . Gallipeau . Sherrie . March 9, 2010 . Atrazine induces complete feminization and chemical castration in male African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 107 . 10 . 4612–4617 . 10.1073/pnas.0909519107 . 0027-8424 . 2842049 . 20194757 . 2010PNAS..107.4612H . free .
  5. Renner . Rebecca . 2008 . Atrazine Effects in Xenopus Aren't Reproducible . Environmental Science & Technology . en . 42 . 10 . 3491–3493 . 10.1021/es087113j . 18546678 . 2008EnST...42.3491R . 0013-936X.
  6. Jooste . Alarik M. . Du Preez . Louis H. . Carr . James A. . Giesy . John P. . Gross . Timothy S. . Kendall . Ronald J. . Smith . Ernest E. . Van Der Kraak . Glen L. . Solomon . Keith R. . July 1, 2005 . Gonadal Development of Larval Male Xenopus laevis Exposed to Atrazine in Outdoor Microcosms . Environmental Science & Technology . en . 39 . 14 . 5255–5261 . 10.1021/es048134q . 16082954 . 2005EnST...39.5255J . 0013-936X.
  7. Rohr . Jason R. . McCoy . Krista A. . January 2010 . A Qualitative Meta-Analysis Reveals Consistent Effects of Atrazine on Freshwater Fish and Amphibians . Environmental Health Perspectives . en . 118 . 1 . 20–32 . 10.1289/ehp.0901164 . 0091-6765 . 2831963 . 20056568.
  8. Web site: September 30, 2015 . Atrazine Updates Pesticides US EPA . July 20, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150930062846/http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/atrazine/atrazine_update.htm#amphibian . September 30, 2015 .
  9. News: Infowars' Alex Jones has a long history of inflammatory, anti-LGBTQ speech. August 7, 2018. June 22, 2023. Alexander. Kacala. NBC News.
  10. Web site: Higgins . Tucker . September 14, 2018 . Alex Jones' 5 most disturbing and ridiculous conspiracy theories . July 20, 2023 . CNBC.
  11. Web site: Perret . Meg . June 9, 2020 . "Chemical Castration": White Genocide and Male Extinction in Rhetoric of Endocrine Disruption . July 20, 2023 . NiCHE.
  12. Boast . Hannah . November 1, 2022 . Theorizing the Gay Frog . Environmental Humanities . 14 . 3 . 661–679 . 10.1215/22011919-9962959 . 253797376 . 2201-1919. free . 20.500.11820/62b12a6c-719b-479f-9e84-be7054aef5fc . free .
  13. News: Brownworth . Victoria A. . June 21, 2023 . Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: The Shaming of a Legacy . . June 22, 2023.
  14. Web site: Segalov . Michael . June 8, 2017 . A Quick Refresher: The Truth About Water Making You Gay . July 20, 2023 . Vice.
  15. Bailey . J. Michael . Vasey . Paul L. . Diamond . Lisa M. . Breedlove . S. Marc . Vilain . Eric . Epprecht . Marc . 2016 . Sexual Orientation, Controversy, and Science . Psychological Science in the Public Interest . 17 . 2 . 45–101 . 10.1177/1529100616637616 . 27113562 . 42281410 . free.

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