Dolphins in Channel carry 'toxic cocktail' of chemicals
Source: Associated Press
Dolphins in Channel carry 'toxic cocktail' of chemicals
Associated Press
Thu 12 Sep 2019 17.42 BST
Last modified on Thu 12 Sep 2019 18.40 BST
Bottlenose dolphins in the Channel have been found to carry a “toxic cocktail” of chemicals in their bodies, some of which have been banned for decades and which may be harming the marine mammals’ health, scientists have said.
Belgian and French scientists said they detected high accumulations of industrial fluids and mercury in the blubber and skin of dolphins in the waters off the north-west coast of France.
Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers said they measured levels of pollutants similar to those found in dolphins in the Mediterranean sea, around Florida’s Everglades, off the coast of the Guianas and in Guanabara Bay, in Brazil.
Many of the chemicals, including so-called PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), have been banned since the 1970s and 1980s but persist in the environment, where they can pass through the food chain. Because the compounds are able to dissolve in oils, they accumulate in fatty tissue. In marine mammals, mothers can pass the chemicals on to their calves during pregnancy and lactation.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/12/dolphins-in-channel-carry-toxic-cocktail-of-chemicals