That research led the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the use of DDT in 1972. In the last five years, an increasing number of frogs and toads with severe malformations have been observed throughout the United States and around the world. Surveys conducted in 1997 in the northeast and midwest found malformation rates ranging up to 17.9 percent at some of the refuges. When frogs and toads are either not found at all or are found with malformations on our national wildlife refuges, there is something wrong. We are here today to try to find out what that something is.
Amphibians are good indicators of significant environmental changes.
Frogs and toads are highly sensitive to their environments, since they breathe at least partly through their skin. Scientists are studying a variety of possible causes for the declines and malformations, including disease and fungal infections, habitat loss, thinning ozone and increased ultraviolet radiation, pollution and other contaminant factors. The potential combined impact of some or all of these factors make it more difficult for scientists to determine the cause. The study is part of the Department of the Interior's Amphibian Initiative and includes other Interior agencies. A multi-agency taskforce consisting of the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Justice, Defense, State, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution has been charged by the Clinton Administration to determine the causes of this trend of declines and malformations and to institute the appropriate actions to halt the disappearance of amphibians.