Study Links Stranded Marine Animals to Environmental Toxins

In a study, recently published in the journal Environmental Pollution, Eric Montie, a University of South Florida scientist who did most of his research while a doctoral student at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, found high levels of man-made chemicals in the brains and fluid surrounding the brains of marine mammals.

Scientists have known for a while that dangerous compounds like the pesticide DDT, the insulating material PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) and the flame retardant PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) accumulate in the fatty tissue of mammals, particularly top-of-the-food-chain predators that eat chemical-laden prey.

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Montie tested for the presence of 170 chemicals in brain and cerebrospinal fluid he'd collected from the stranded animals. He found exceptionally high levels of both the widely used flame retardant PBDE and a form of PCB.

www.capecodonline.com.../20090526/NEWS/905260315


Very, very interesting and important article. For years, scientists have hypothesized on the reason for whale and dolphin strandings. The theories have ranged anywhere from being caused by changing ocean temperatures to noise pollution to earthquakes. But I believe this study is good enough evidence to support chemical pollution as the cause of these beachings and strandings. Insulating material? Flame retardant? Get this stuff out of our oceans. It's harming the wildlife.

Most chemical pollution results from dangerous chemicals not being disposed of appropriately. Can you believe this? Over 170 chemicals. This is especially an issue in carnivorous marine mammals. The tiny fish eat plants or microscopic organisms contaminated with the chemicals. They are eaten by larger fish, which are eaten by larger fish, which are eaten by whales. The toxicity is multiple times larger, because each fish does not just eat one of it's prey, it eats many of them.

It messes up their nervous system. It makes them susceptible to parasites and disease. You cannot say that this is not our fault.

realizing how destructive our culture is, makes me feel pretty f*n disgusted to be human

how about you?

reply to post by warrenb


AGREED.
I was just talking about it with a friend today, especially because in a recession it's easier to ruin the environment than to fix it.

I love how everyone blamed natural things for stranding, and now it's our fault. I totally predicted it, but I didn't think it would be because of pollution. Can you imagine how sick those whales and dolphins must be feeling because of us?

Man, it's like we are driving them insane with chemicals, as if someone were forcing them to keep ingesting these things they didn't like, for years.

Humans are terrible and I wouldn't have considered the chemical pollution to play such a significant role in the animal's chemistry.

*goes around moping about how much humans suck*