Michael Lannoo is a leading researcher on the causes of frog deformities, and is coordinator for the U.S. Working Group of the Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force. He is associate professor of neurobiology in Indiana University’s Muncie Center for Medical Education at Ball State University.

after briefly summarizing existing data, Lannoo writes:

...there is a natural cause of amphibian malformations (perhaps parasites), but that superimposed upon this background level is some more recent, more potent, and widespread cause. My own data set (gathered from radiographs of almost 600 animals of 16 species from 59 sites scattered through ten states) suggests that there is more than one cause of amphibian malformations, and that these causes vary geographically."

later on he observes:

"... , originators and/or proponents of causes sometimes assume (erroneously, in my opinion) that their good reputations depend on their views being completely correct and/or all-encompassing. They then seek to defend these views against all alternatives. In doing so, they become preacherlike or lawyerlike and trample the scientific method. It is an open secret that one researcher has gone so far as write letters to Donna Shalala, U.S. secretary of health and human services; Bruce Babbitt, U.S. secretary of the interior; and Jesse Ventura, governor of Minnesota.

The purpose of these letters was an attempt to censure, through a repeal of peer-reviewed grant funding, ongoing projects that contradicted the author’s hypothesis [which was that parasites are the only cause]. Many view this action as cowardly; several have suggested it is academic misconduct. I only note that the major transgression is nonscientific behavior. The Washington Post reporter William Souder will be detailing some of these activities in his upcoming book A Plague of Frogs, to be published through Hyperion Press this coming March."

and Lannoo concludes:

"In closing, I emphasize that no, the future for amphibians does not look bright (continued losses, however slight, cannot be sustained; new types of malformations continue to be reported); and yes, there is a lot of nonscience (much of it nonsense) being propagated through Web sites and mailing lists. But the public is interested, the public cares, and a silent majority of scientists understand and practice the scientific method.  And in this we take hope."