View source for Tyrone Hayes

{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix          = 
| name         = Tyrone B. Hayes
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| image                     = TBHayes.jpg
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| birth_name   = {{nowrap|Tyrone B. Hayes}}
| birth_date   = {{Birth date and age|1967|7|29}}
| birth_place  = [[Columbia, South Carolina]], U.S.
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| ethnicity                 = [[New Afrikan]]
| citizenship               = United States
| education   = PhD (1993, [[U.C. Berkeley|Berkeley]]), BA (1989, [[Harvard University|Harvard]])
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| years_active              = 
| employer                  = Professor
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| known_for                 = [[Exposing Syngenta's toxic agriculture chemicals]]
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| website      = [http://www.atrazinelovers.com/ Atrazine Lovers]
}}

'''Tyrone B. Hayes''' (born July 29, 1967) is an [[American Afrikan]] [[biologist]] and professor of Integrative Biology at [[University of California, Berkeley]] known for his research findings that the [[herbicide]] [[atrazine]] is an [[endocrine disruptor]] that demasculinizes and feminizes male frogs. He is also an advocate for critical review and regulation of pesticides and other chemicals that may cause adverse health effects. He has presented hundreds of papers, talks, and seminars on the role of environmental chemical contaminants in global amphibian declines and in the health disparities that occur in minority and low income populations.  His work has been contested by [[Syngenta]], the Swiss manufacturer of atrazine, and was used as the basis for the settlement of a multi-million dollar class-action lawsuit against them.

==Early Life==
Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Hayes spent his childhood studying frogs and lizards in his community. He would collect many specimens and expose them to different controlled environments to record the results. His father once remarked, while watching him conduct an experiment that "there is a fine line between a genius and a fool.<ref ="Aviv">http://www.ebony.com/black-listed/news-views/the-tyrone-hayes-story-981#axzz35hkv2ByE</ref>  and won a state science fair with research that showed [[Dactyloidae|anole]] lizards had to be awake to change color.<ref name="Mother Jones 2012">{{Cite journal | last1 = Slater | first1 = Dashka | title = The Frog of War | work = Mother Jones | date=January–February 2012 | url = http://motherjones.com/environment/2011/11/tyrone-hayes-atrazine-syngenta-feud-frog-endangered }}</ref> In sixth grade, Hayes was accecpted into a program for 'gifted' children. After some time, in this program, he took note that the people in his community, began to treat him differently, accusing him of striving to 'act white'.

==Education and Career==
Hayes went on to highschool and did so well that he recieved a scholarship to Harvard. In 1985, he began what he called "the worst four years of his life"<ref name="Aviv"></ref> He didn't do well at all in his time there. He went as far as to be placed on academic probation. This went on until he became close to a biology professor. He turned his academic career around after that, and met his soon to be wife, Katherine Kim, a Korean from Kansas. 
After graduating from [[Harvard University]], Hayes was a technician and freelance consultant from 1990–1992 for [[Tiburon, California]] based Biosystems, Inc.<ref name = "vita">{{cite web |title=Tyrone Hayes Curriculum Vita |url=http://www.atrazinelovers.com/t2d.html |publisher=Atrazine Lovers Website |accessdate=August 23, 2013}}</ref>  Hayes has held an academic appointment (professorship) at the University of California, Berkeley since completing his doctoral research there in 1992;<ref name="Mother Jones 2012" /> He was hired as a graduate student instructor in 1992, became an assistant professor in 1994, associate professor in 2000, and professor in 2003 in the Department of Integrative Biology, Molecular Toxicology, Group in Endocrinology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley.<ref name = "vita" />

===Atrazine research===
[[File:African clawed frogs; Xenopus laevis.jpg|thumb|left| ''Xenopus laevis'', the African Clawed frog]]
In 1997, the consulting firm EcoRisk, Inc.{{efn-ua|name=EcoRisk|EcoRisk, Inc., for which Hayes worked, has ceased to exist as of 2014<ref name="Mother Jones 2012" />}} paid Hayes to join a panel of experts conducting studies for [[Novartis]] (later [[Syngenta]]) on the [[herbicide]] [[atrazine]].<ref name="Mother Jones 2012" /><ref name="Aviv">{{cite journal |last=Aviv |first=Rachel |title=A Valuable Reputation: After Tyrone Hayes said that a chemical was harmful, its maker pursued him |journal=The New Yorker |date=February 10, 2014 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/02/10/140210fa_fact_aviv?currentPage=all |accessdate=February 7, 2014}}</ref>  When Hayes' research found unexpected toxicities for atrazine, he reported them to the panel, however the panel and company were resistant to his findings.  He wanted to repeat his work to validate it but  Novartis refused funding for further research;  he resigned from the panel and obtained other funding to repeat the experiments.<ref name="Mother Jones 2012" /><ref name="Aviv" />

In 2002 Hayes published findings that he says replicate what he found while he was working for EcoRisk,<ref name="Mother Jones 2012" /> that developing male [[African clawed frog]]s and [[leopard frog]]s exhibited female characteristics after exposure to atrazine, first in the ''[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]]'' (PNAS)<ref>{{cite journal |author=Hayes TB, Collins A, Lee M, ''et al.'' |title=Hermaphroditic, demasculinized frogs after exposure to the herbicide atrazine at low ecologically relevant doses |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=99 |issue=8 |pages=5476–80 |date=April 2002 |pmid=11960004 |pmc=122794 |doi=10.1073/pnas.082121499 |url=http://www.pnas.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=11960004}}</ref> and then in [[Nature (journal)|''Nature'']].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Hayes T, Haston K, Tsui M, Hoang A, Haeffele C, Vonk A |title=Herbicides: feminization of male frogs in the wild |journal=Nature |volume=419 |issue=6910 |pages=895–6 |date=October 2002 |pmid=12410298 |doi=10.1038/419895a |url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v419/n6910/full/419895a.html}}</ref><ref name="NN">{{cite journal |author=Dalton R |title=E-mails spark ethics row |journal=Nature |volume=466 |issue=7309 |pages=913 |date=August 2010 |pmid=20725013 |doi=10.1038/466913a |url=http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100818/full/466913a.html}}</ref>

In 2007, Hayes was a co-author on a paper that detailed atrazine inducing [[Mammary tumor|mammary]] and [[prostate cancer]] in laboratory rodents and highlighted atrazine as a potential cause of reproductive cancers in humans.<ref name="Environ. Health Perspect." >{{Cite journal | last1 = Fan | first1 = W. | coauthors = T. Yanase, H. Morinaga, S. Gondo, T. Okabe, M. Nomura, T. Komatsu, K.I. Morohashi, T.B. Hayes | doi = 10.1289/ehp.9758 | title = Atrazine-Induced Aromatase Expression is SF-1 Dependent: Implications for Endocrine Disruption in Wildlife and Reproductive Cancers in Humans | journal = Environmental Health Perspectives | volume = 115 | issue = 5 | pages = 720–7 | year = 2007 | pmid=17520059 | pmc =1867956 }}</ref>  At a presentation to the U.S. [[National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences]] in 2007, Hayes presented results of his studies that showed [[chemical castration]] in frogs; individuals of both sexes had developed bisexual reproductive organs.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ball |first=Eddy |title=Amphibian Specialist Challenges EPA and Pesticide Manufacturers |url=http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/newsletter/2007/april/science-amphibian.cfm |work=Environmental Factor NIEHS News |publisher=National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences |accessdate=February 7, 2014 |date=April 2007 |quote=I could take tap water that is regulated by the U.S. EPA," Hayes noted, "and I could chemically castrate frogs.}}</ref>

In 2010, Hayes published  research in PNAS<ref>{{cite journal |author=Hayes TB, Khoury V, Narayan A, ''et al.'' |title=Atrazine induces complete feminization and chemical castration in male African clawed frogs (''Xenopus laevis'') |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=107 |issue=10 |pages=4612–7 |date=March 2010 |pmid=20194757 |pmc=2842049 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0909519107 |url=http://www.pnas.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=20194757}}</ref> describing laboratory work showing how exposure to atrazine turned male tadpoles into females — albeit with impaired fertility.<ref name="Aviv" />

The US [[Environmental Protection Agency|EPA]] conducted literature reviews of atrazine toxicity in 2007<ref>{{citation |last=Staff |title=Atrazine Updates: Amphibians Status Update |url=http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/atrazine/atrazine_update.htm#amphibian |accessdate=August 23, 2013 |publisher=U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |date=January 2013}}</ref> and 2012 and disregarded Hayes' studies because they were deemed too restrictive, or did not meet the standards set by the agency.<ref name="Aviv" />

==Advocacy==
[[File:AtrazineUSAMap.png|thumb|right| A map of pounds per square mile of atrazine application in the U.S. in 1997]]

Based on his research findings, Hayes has become an advocate for banning atrazine.<ref name=LoE>{{citation |title=Hormone Disruptors Linked To Genital Changes and Sexual Preference |url=http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=11-P13-00001&segmentID=7 |work=Living on Earth |publisher=National Public Radio |accessdate=February 7, 2014 |date=January 7, 2011}}</ref>

According to Hayes, the link between atrazine and altered "[[aromatase]] and [[estrogen]] production has been demonstrated... in fish, frogs, alligators, birds, turtles, rats and human cells", and, "I believe that the preponderance of the evidence shows atrazine to be a risk to wildlife and humans. I would not want to be exposed to it, nor do I think it should be released into the environment."<ref name=LoE/><ref name="silentspring">{{Cite web |url=http://www.truthout.org/silent-spring-has-sprung57796 |title=Silent Spring Has Sprung |author=[[Randall Amster]] |work=Truthout |date=March 19, 2010|accessdate = February 7, 2014}}</ref>  He travels and lectures extensively, and uses the language of rap to convey his message to lay people: “I see a ruse / intentionally constructed to confuse the news / well, I’ve taken it upon myself to defuse the clues / so that you can choose / and to demonstrate the objectivity of the methods I use.”<ref name="Aviv" />  He also has raised issues of [[environmental racism]], "warning that the consequences of atrazine use were disproportionately felt by people of color. 'If you’re black or Hispanic, you’re more likely to live or work in areas where you’re exposed to crap,' he has said."<ref name="Aviv" />

Research published by Hayes and other scientists was used as evidence in a class action lawsuit against [[Syngenta]] by 15 water providers in Illinois that was settled for 105 million dollars in May 2012,<ref name="NN" /><ref>{{cite web |title=City of Greenville v. Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc., and Syngenta AG Case No. 3:10-cv-00188-JPG-PMF |url=http://www.atrazinesettlement.com/ |publisher=City of Greenville |accessdate=August 23, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Staff |title=Tillery planning to file new litigation involving atrazine |url=http://madisonrecord.com/issues/332-class-action/256733-tillery-planning-to-file-new-litigation-involving-atrazine-according-to-environmental-health-news |accessdate=August 23, 2013 |newspaper=Madison County Record |date=June 19, 2013}}</ref> which reimbursed more than 1,000 water systems for the costs of filtering atrazine from drinking water, although the company denies any wrongdoing.<ref name="Aviv" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Berry |first=Ian |title=Syngenta Settles Weedkiller Lawsuit |url=http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304840904577426172221346482 |accessdate=9 February 2014 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=25 May 2012}}</ref>

==Syngenta's responses to Hayes' research==
{{Further|Atrazine#Personal attacks on scientists}}
In 2014, ''[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]]'' writer Rachel Aviv reported that Syngenta might have been orchestrating an attack not only on Hayes' scientific credibility, but on other scientists as well whose studies have shown atrazine to have adverse effects on the environment and/or human and animal health.<ref name="Aviv"/>

Aviv reported that Syngenta has criticized Hayes' science and conduct in press releases, letters to the editor, and through a formal ethics complaint filed at University of California-Berkeley.<ref name="Aviv" />  Internal Syngenta documents from 2005 released by a class-action lawsuit in 2014 show ways that Syngenta considered to discredit Hayes, including attempting to get journals to retract his work, and investigating his funding and private life.<ref name="Aviv"/><ref name="SWO">{{cite web |title=Court-released documents: Exhibit 19, part1 |url=http://www.sourcewatch.org/images/f/f6/Exhibit_19_Part1.pdf |work=Source Watch |publisher=Center for Media and Democracy |accessdate=February 7, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Howard |first=Clare |title=Special Report: Syngenta's campaign to protect atrazine, discredit critics |url=http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2013/atrazine |accessdate=August 23, 2013 |newspaper=Environmental Health News |date=June 17, 2013}}</ref>

In one of the 2005 e-mails obtained by class-action lawsuit plaintiffs, the company’s communications consultants had written about plans to track Hayes' speaking engagements and prepare audiences with Syngenta's counterpoints to Hayes's message on atrazine.  Syngenta subsequently stated that many of the documents unsealed in the lawsuits refer to "ideas that were never implemented."<ref name="Aviv"/>

==Popular culture==
Hayes' work was featured in the 2008 documentary film ''[[Flow: For Love of Water]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Collins |first=Cyn |title=Film note: All dried up |url=http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2008/07/31/film-note-all-dried.html |accessdate=August 23, 201 |newspaper=Twin Cities Daily Planet |date=July 31, 2008}}</ref> He appeared in the 2012 documentary film ''Last Call at the Oasis''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tyrone Hayes|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2861198/?ref_=tt_cl_t5|website=www.imdb.com|accessdate=6/24/2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Scott |first=A.O. |title=When There Really Is Not a Drop to Drink ‘Last Call at the Oasis,’ a Documentary About Water Supplies |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/movies/last-call-at-the-oasis-a-documentary-about-water-supplies.html?_r=0 |accessdate=February 7, 2014 |newspaper=New York Times |date=May 3, 2012 |quote = Tyrone Hayes, a biologist, shows us mutant frogs, their endocrine systems scrambled by pesticide-borne chemicals.}}</ref>

Hayes is the subject of ''The Frog Hunter'', a biographical book for children, first published in 2009.<ref>{{cite book |author=Pamela S. Turner |title=The Frog Scientist |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=fhAykNJus_IC |year=2009 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books for Children |isbn=978-0-618-71716-3}}</ref>

Hayes was a biologist on the [[Public Broadcasting Service]], [[National Geographic Channel|National Geographic]] program ''Strange Days,'' where he expressed his concerns for human health, particularly that of minority and low-paid workers exposure to agricultural chemicals.<ref name="StrangeDays">{{cite web  | title =Tyrone Hayes, PhD.  | work =Strange Days, Biographies  | publisher =Public Broadcasting System  | year =2013  | url =http://www.pbs.org/strangedays/episodes/troubledwaters/experts/bio_hayes_tyrone.html  | accessdate = August 23, 2013 | quote =  I am concerned about the adverse impacts of Atrazine on endangered species and on racial/ethnic minorities. Prostate and breast cancer are two of the top causes of death in Americans age 25-40, but in particular Black and Hispanic Americans are several times more likely to die from these diseases. Ethnic minorities and people of low income are also more likely to hold the "unskilled" laborer positions in agriculture and pesticide production that would put them at higher risk of exposure and are least likely to have access to the emerging science demonstrating the dangers of exposure. Thus, this environmental and public health issue is also a racial/social justice issue because minority and working class people are the primary targets of pesticide exposure.}}</ref> He is a [[National Geographic Society]] Explorer.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tyrone Hayes Biologist/Herpetologist |url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/bios/tyrone-hayes/ |work=August 23, 2013 |publisher=National Geographic}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Character assassination]]
*[[Ecophysiology]]
*[[Environmental toxicology]]
*[[Environmentalism]]
*[[Pesticides in the United States#Atrazine|Pesticides in the United States]]
*[[Rachel Carson]]
*[[Smear campaign]]
*[[Weed control]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=upper-alpha}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links ==
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MxrH4lN0-A "The Atrazine Rap"] — part of a scientific lecture by Hayes in rhyme
*[http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/frogs-the-thin-green-line/video-agricultures-effect-on-frogs/4848/ Agriculture's Effect on Frogs]— video excerpt from: "Frogs: The Thin Green Line" (''[[Nature (TV series)|Nature]]'') featuring Hayes' research
*[http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/21/silencing_the_scientist_tyrone_hayes_on Democracy Now! ] - video interview with Hayes
*[http://www.ted.com/talks/tyrone_hayes_penelope_jagessar_chaffer_the_toxic_baby Ted Talks "The Toxic Baby"]

==For additional reading==
*{{cite book |first=John E. |last=Elliott |first2=Christine A. |last2=Bishop |first3=Christy |last3=Morrissey |title=Wildlife Ecotoxicology: Forensic Approaches |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=grkZKbBzzTMC&pg=PA301 |year=2011 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-387-89432-4 |pages=301–}}
*{{cite book |first=Thomas O. |last=McGarity |first2=Wendy Elizabeth |last2=Wagner |title=Bending Science: How Special Interests Corrupt Public Health Research |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Ah6-__otORAC&pg=PA51 |year=2008 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-02815-9 |pages=51–}}
*{{cite book |first=Chris |last=Mooney |authorlink=Chris Mooney (journalist) |title=The Republican War on Science |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Jr5e7Tz5VNQC&pg=PT297 |year=2007 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-00386-0 |pages=297–}}
*{{cite book |first=Cecie |last=Starr |first2=Christine |last2=Evers |first3=Lisa |last3=Starr |title=Biology: Concepts and Applications |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=_16xbB2Py_UC&pg=PA503 |year=2010 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=1-4390-4673-5 |pages=503–}}
*{{cite book |first=Wendy Elizabeth |last=Wagner |first2=Rena |last2=Steinzor |title=Rescuing Science from Politics: Regulation and the Distortion of Scientific Research |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=VZ1axrolCpkC&pg=PA52 |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85520-4 |pages=52–}}

{{Authority control |VIAF=41317943 |LCCN=n/2008/63405 }}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME              = Hayes, Tyrone B.
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = integrative biologist
| DATE OF BIRTH     = July 29, 1967
| PLACE OF BIRTH    = [[Columbia, South Carolina]], U.S.
| DATE OF DEATH     =
| PLACE OF DEATH    =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayes, Tyrone}}
[[Category:American biologists]]
[[Category:African-American scientists]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty]]
[[Category:People from Berkeley, California]]
[[Category:People from Columbia, South Carolina]]
[[Category:1967 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]