title: Peril in the Ponds: Deformed Frogs, Politics, and a Biologist's Quest
author: Judy Helgen
description: "Do the observations of a curiously stubborn field biologist have any relevance to the busy lives of parents raising childrenor to agricultural economics, public health policymaking, and the corporate control of science? Here's your answer. <i>Peril in the Ponds </i>begins with frogs and travels the world. Its author is brave, its evidence convincing, its story compelling. Judy Helgen is Winston Churchill in a pair of waders. Read what she has to say . . . and then do something."Sandra Steingraber, author of <i>Living Downstream: An Ecologist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment</i><br /><br />"This is a book for anyone who cares about the environment, not just in Minnesota but every place where there are frogs and farms."Craig Pittman, author of <i>Paving Paradise: Florida's Vanishing Wetlands and the Failure of No Net Loss</i><br /><br />"Judy Helgen was at ground zero when the epidemic of malformed frogs tipped from a regional environmental issue to an international phenomenon. Her book takes us through a heady time when industry and governments were scared and emotions ran as hot as they did during the Love Canal debacle or following the publication of <i>Silent Spring</i>."Michael Lannoo, author of <i>Malformed Frogs: The Collapse of Aquatic Ecosystems</i><br /><br />". . . the very few who have worked on the issue have not produced a definitive understanding of deformed frogs. Helgen deserves great credit for her accomplishments under the circumstances and for bringing the issue back under our scrutiny."<i>BioScience</i><br /><br />"It is important for students to understand how politics can alter, shape, and unfortunately, even stop important research. However, even more importantly, <i>Peril in the Ponds</i> demonstrates the positive societal impacts of dedicated scientists who fight through such roadblocks. <i>Peril in the Ponds</i> is clearly written, accessible, and makes an important contribution to the environmental change and wetland conservation literature."<i>Wetlands</i><br /><br />"<i>Peril</i> does a fine job of combining the thrill of a scientific whodunit (just exactly what is responsible for frog deformities in Minnesota?) with a 'this-is-my-story' monologue from a professional scientist. And it is the side story of Dr. Helgen's life, interwoven with the realities of modern science, rather than the frog deformities themselves that steal the show in this book. . . . <i>Peril in the Ponds</i> is a worthwhile read and can play an important role as a supplemental text for an environmental science class. It is an excellent segue into conversations regarding the scientific method and how it interdigitates with agency administration, the media, the public, and with policy decisions. It provides an avenue for discussion regarding experimental design, the true nature of science, and the role that scientific discovery plays in society. It also serves as an opening for conversations focusing on career choices and whether the benefits of a scientific career, such as that of Dr. Helgen, are worth the personal costs and professional frustrations."<i>PLOS Biology</i>
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  ## [Dedication](nav.xhtml#r_idParaDest-1)
  
  
  This book is dedicated to its readers
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## [Epigraph](nav.xhtml#r_idParaDest-2)
  
  
  I too have bubbled up, floated the measureless float,
  
  
  and been wash’d on your shores;
  
  
  I too am but a trail of drift and debris,
  
  
  I too leave little wrecks upon you, you fish-shaped
  
  
  island.
  
  
  —WALT WHITMAN
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## [RESISTANCE](nav.xhtml#r_idParaDest-3)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## [one](nav.xhtml#r_idParaDest-4)
  
  
  PEOPLE GET FROGS in their pools. The frogs think the pools are ponds, jump in,
  and can’t get out again. Invisible chlorine seeps through their skin and kills
  them. On spring mornings, the more fortunate citizens of Highbone wake up to
  find their swimming pools full of dead or struggling frogs. They stand in
  their bathrobes with pool nets, fishing them out while their coffee gets cold.
  
  
  Only Isabel and the frog-