The 9th Annual GELSS Symposium was held on Friday, February 1st, 2008
at Old Main, ASU Tempe Campus
Dr. Tyrone Hayes, researcher in the Department of Integrative Biology, Molecular Toxicology, Group in Endocrinology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Energy and Resources Group University of California at Berkeley, gave the keynote address entitled: "From Silent Spring to Silent Night", at the Life, Earth and Social Science Graduate Research Symposium on Friday, February 1st, 2008.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Tyrone Hayes is most well known for his research involving atrazine, the second most commonly used herbicide in the United States. He was approached by the chemical company Novartis (which later became the agricultural chemical giant Syngenta) to conduct research examining the effects of the herbicide atrazine on frogs. Initially he wasn’t expecting to find interesting results. However, his laboratory found that atrazine is a potent endocrine disruptor that chemically castrates and feminizes exposed male amphibians. It decreases the size of male larynxes such that they are indistinguishable from females, and hence males are unable to call. In addition, in causes hermaphrodites, animals that have both testes and ovaries. These effects were seen in doses as low as 0.1 parts-per-billion, levels 30 times below the federally established “safe” level in drinking water. Needless to say, the company that hired him and its consultants were not enthusiastic about his findings. They tried to prevent him from presenting his data at scientific meetings and publishing the data, and they tried to hinder further research to replicate or validate his findings. Hence, he resigned his consultant position with the company and went on to publish his work and further findings with independent funding.
In his biography, Dr. Hayes states: “Despite controversy generated by the industry giant (attempts to finance me and keep my work under the control of the corporation and to discredit me and my work), I was promoted to full professor in 2003. Presently work continues to focus on the effects of pesticides on amphibians and the role of this threat in amphibian declines. Furthermore, it has become clear that the adverse effects of atrazine extend beyond amphibians. Through endocrine-disrupting mechanisms identical to those acting in amphibians, atrazine produces effects in other animals, including prostate and breast cancer and decreased fertility in laboratory rodents. These same effects are associated with atrazine exposure in humans. In addition to the scientific interests, this issue is one of environmental justice. Citizens in lower socio-economic classes and, in particular, ethnic minorities are less likely to have access to this information, more likely to be employed and live in areas where they are exposed to pesticides, less likely to have access to appropriate health care, and more likely to die from what are already the number one cancers in men in women (prostate and breast cancer, respectively), with cancer now being the number one cause of death in the US.
“Industry has increased efforts to discredit my work, but my laboratory continues to examine the impacts of atrazine and other pesticides on environmental and public health. My decision to stand up and face the industry giant was not a heroic one. My parents taught me, “Do not do the right thing because you seek reward… and do not avoid the wrong thing because you fear punishment. Do the right thing, because it is the right thing.” If I want to raise my own children with the same philosophy, then I have to live my life in accordance with the way that I direct theirs. There was only one choice.”
Dr. Hayes received his B.A. from Harvard and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in Integrative Biology where he examined the role of hormones in mediating developmental responses to environmental changes in amphibians. At the age of 32 he was appointed Associate Professor with tenure at Berkeley, becoming the youngest tenured professor in the department. Three years later he was promoted to full professor. He has directly trained more than 60 students in his laboratory (including GELSS chair Gwynne Johnston). His work has been promoted by National Geographic magazine, Discover magazine, NPR, and many other major newspapers across the country. He has published more than 40 papers in many journals including Nature and PNAS, and given more than 300 talks. He is a very dynamic speaker who gives entertaining yet thought-provoking lectures.
Some related links:
A Berkeley scientist says a corporate sponsor tried to bury his unwelcome findings and then buy his silence
