Was rather stunned to read this in today's Winnipeg Free Press.

I read it in the standard paper-edition, but found the online version here:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/life/h ... 57384.html

The article is W. Gifford-Jones MD.'s weekly article, "The Doctor Game".

In it, he first talks about how males cause far more crime etc. than women, and perhaps it's time for women to rule the world.

He then mentions a study that raised 40 male frogs from hatching to adulhood in water that contained .003 percent of Atrazine, a herbicide in common use. This caused 10 percent of the frogs to develop into what looked like normal female frogs, and half of those appeared to have ovaries. 80% of the other started-as-male frogs were incapable of producing sperm.

The author THEN goes on to say how, wouldn't it be good for the world if we could administer a pinch of this chemical to boys to reduce their aggressiveness... remember, this is mainstream press here. Wow. Look:

It's certainly a valid worry when this herbicide can turn boy frogs into girl frogs and 80 per cent of the others can't produce sperm. This is a better way to wipe out frogs than a nuclear blast.

But what intrigues me is whether this Atrazine-induced endocrine disruption in frogs could be used to quell male violence. If researchers could find a way to inject a pinch of Atrazine to remove some of the "boy" in humans, we might have a less violent world.

I'm utterly amazed that this was published... on the one hand, I have to say I'm kind of intriged that it was given space in our paper, and on the other, doesn't this rather harken back to the 'old days' of Eugenics and Nazi-ish experimentation? Or perhaps the ineveitable next step of Ritalin-izing our boys into calm complacency?

I'm equally horrified, intrigued, and heartened to see this in the paper. It's like something straight out of one of the stories in the archive.

Here's the full article;

Where is "peace on earth" this holiday season? Problems continue in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senseless killings occur almost daily in our major cities. Women continue to be raped and physically abused all over the world. Daily newspapers and TV news shows repeat the indisputable fact underlying this trend. Most of these crimes are committed by men. So could a frog experiment help to end these senseless acts?

Maurice Chevalier used to say "Vive la différence" when talking about males and females. And the often-quoted phrase that "girls are sugar and spice and everything nice" is, with rare exception, true.

Like Chevalier, I too, have always been happy with "la différence." And pleased that, with some exceptions, females do not possess the deadlier side of the male brain.

Statistics this holiday season are appalling. Studies show that men are 11 times more likely to commit murder. They cause 98 per cent of sexual assaults, 93 per cent of armed robberies and one in three women worldwide is either physically or sexually abused by men.

Consider the treacherous Ponzi affairs in recent years. It's the dastardly deeds of Bernard Madoff, Earl Jones and others who have wiped out the life savings of thousands of honest people. They are all men. So is there any way to change men's behaviour and make them more civilized?

Tyrone Hayes is professor of developmental endocrinology at the University of California, Berkeley. He reports in The National Academy of Sciences Journal the proceedings of a fascinating experiment using Atrazine.

Atrazine is an herbicide that acts by blocking photosynthesis. Every year North America uses more than 34 million tons of Atrazine to kill weeds. It's also used to protect corn, sugar cane, cotton crops, and keep putting greens spectacularly green. But for years there's been an ongoing debate by environmentalists about its safety. In effect, does it affect humans when it seeps into our drinking water?

To test the safety of this herbicide Hayes raised 40 male African clawed frogs from hatching to adulthood in a solution containing 0.003 per cent Atrazine. Ten per cent developed into what looked like normal females. But when two of the four where dissected they even contained female ovaries!

Hayes says these frogs had been "chemically castrated" and "completely feminized." Moreover, of the Atrazine-exposed males that did not develop ovaries, 80 per cent could not produce male sperm.

Hayes, being a biologist, is concerned that Atrazine exposure is a potential danger to amphibians as their populations have been decreasing. It's certainly a valid worry when this herbicide can turn boy frogs into girl frogs and 80 per cent of the others can't produce sperm. This is a better way to wipe out frogs than a nuclear blast.

But what intrigues me is whether this Atrazine-induced endocrine disruption in frogs could be used to quell male violence. If researchers could find a way to inject a pinch of Atrazine to remove some of the "boy" in humans, we might have a less violent world.

The question is why is it that males are the more aggressive and deadlier of the two genders? Is it due to the male hormone testosterone, often called the "Big T?" Is it a genetic trait? Is it because they are physically stronger than women? Or just that men are power-crazy?

I believe the world would be in better shape this holiday season if women made more of the decisions. They would be less anxious to start wars and see their sons and daughters die in foreign lands. There'd be fewer Ponzi schemes, murders and inhumanity to all.

Besides, women are considered to be smarter so wouldn't our civilization be more advanced, as we end 2010, if women ruled?

Or am I naïve, and it's just a matter of picking your poison?

info@docgiff.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 3, 2010

Dr. W. Gifford-Jones is a pseudonym for Dr. Ken Walker, a Toronto-based gynecologist and a graduate of Harvard Medical School. He has written five best-selling books as well as producing his regular newspaper column, The Doctor Game, which appears in newspapers all across the U.S. and Canada.

Walker is not averse to taking unpopular stands and as early as 1983 he established the Gifford-Jones Foundation to push for the legalization of heroin for the treatment of terminal cancer pain. Today he is pushing for the legalization of Marijuana for medicinal purposes in Canada. He’s written, "Human compassion and that alone, should make marijuana available to patients who need it. It’s too bad that politicians, doctors and moralists… can’t be made to suffer these symptoms for 24 long hours. How quickly unjust, unreasonable, cruel laws would change!"

He’s responded to an email, “This column has generated a lot of reaction from readers. Why did I write it? For several reasons. It was meant to be an X-mas message that society would be in better shape if women ruled the day. But it was not my intention to castrate males! …. I admit I also like to have a little fun now and then, lighten up the topic as medicine can be a rather grim affair writing about cancer and other diseases all the time.”

Take it as a light-hearted poke at society, but one that opens some interesting lines of questioning….

.

Well, this just confirms it.

Jesus is a better index of information than the entire web

I looked up the author of the article and did not get nearly all that information. Thanks for the clarification, Jesus.

Canada has been neutered for a while now. How would we know this was working?

I am just astounded that not only did this get printed (sarcasm or not), but that someone even came up with it in the first place and THOUGHT to print it. We may joke about it a lot, and it may even sound like a good idea sometimes...Lord, has it sounded like a good idea here a LOT of the time...but to actually DO it, I think, would be going just a bit too far.

JesusA (imported) wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2010 12:03 pm It was meant to be an X-mas message that society would be in better shape if women ruled the day. .

I agree that males cause a disproportionate amount of crime, etc. HOWEVER, I will put forth this great generalization: men are the 0.51 that move society forward, push frontiers back, etc. and the 0.49 who cause problems.

If women ruled, we would still be in caves. They would be clean, law abiding, wholesome and sanitary caves, but there we would be. When you get in a car, board a cruise ship or get on an aircraft and go over the horizon from wherever you live, it is mostly (not entirely, but mostly) men who pushed the envelope and paid the prices to make that available to you.

I happen to be a bit of a history buff. If you read the book about the sex lives of the Roman emporers, there was a story about an emporer who became annoyed at some woman and had her household slaves castrated. I remember reading about the Middle Ages and some group of Christians on their way to the Holy Land to crusade for Christ. They were stuck by snows in some Alp valley and amused themselves by dragging house residents out, stripping them naked and nailing them to the door. When the snow finally melted and those guys got to a port to set sail, they were hung from the lanyards instead.

Since it is inconceivable now that George W. would have Hilary's household slaves castrated or that winter entertainment would be stripping and nailing, I think it shows that slowly and haltingly we are becoming civilized and that 0.51 beats 0.49.

Now, lets all get down on our knees and thank God that there are boys who grow up to be men.

Let's also thank our preferred deity that boys (sort of) have the freedom to be girls.

This is coming from someone 40+ years too old to have benefited from the use of the Internet and cyproterone acetate (Androcur) and adolescent treatment for gender dysphoria, which wasn't even recognized when I was an adolescent. Had I continued to insist on my psychological gender, my family would have just put me in the loony bin (unlike Christine Jorgensen, who had some connections and/or resources nobody else did, back then.)