1. PCBs in Texas Dolphins a Warning to Humans

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, February 19, 1999 (ENS) - A study of bottlenose dolphins that stranded and died in Texas* Matagorda Bay has found toxic levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in their tissues. Scientists wondering what effects these pollutants might have on dolphins and people living in the area.

As part of a study funded by Texas Sea Grant, Texas A&M University toxicologist David Busbee analyzed tissue samples taken from the blubber of 10 of the dolphins that stranded in the winter of 1990. He tested them for a variety of pesticides and pollutants, including PCBs, and calculated the amounts and toxic equivalencies required for specific chemicals to prove dangerous to animals.

Fishing in Matagorda Bay (Photo courtesy GreenLite)

PCBs are a family of compounds produced commercially by directly chlorinating biphenyl. Many different combinations are possible. In chemical terminology, phenyl means a ring structure of six carbon atoms attached to something else. Biphenyl results when two such rings are attached to each other. And polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) is any molecule having multiple chlorine atoms attached to the carbon atoms of a biphenyl nucleus. Chlorine atoms can be placed at any or all of ten available sites, with 209 PCB mixtures theoretically possible.

While dolphin researchers found many forms of 209 different PCBs at low levels, the 10 dolphins carried an extremely toxic amount of a form known as non-ortho, coplanar PCBs. The non-ortho coplanar forms of PCBs are so toxic that even extremely small amounts can threaten animals, Busbee said.

The toxic equivalency levels he found in the 10 dolphins studied were 200 times those known to cause birth defects in rats and developmental defects in birds.

"Some of these animals had, over their lifetimes, accumulated fairly large concentrations of these compounds," Busbee said.

No one had previously identified non-ortho PCB levels in the stranded dolphins because scientists do not routinely measure some of the very rare, but potentially toxic, forms when they study PCB levels. But even with this additional information, Busbee said, scientists still do not know what killed the 10 dolphins.

"We think the cold weather and food scarcity put the animals in a lot of stress," he said. "Because they were stressed and using up their normal blubber reserves, they were releasing chemicals stored in the blubber, exposing themselves to extremely high levels of compounds."

This finding raises questions about whether people living near the bay or eating seafood are also accumulating high levels of potentially poisonous PCBs. Research suggests that humans may be even more vulnerable to PCBs and related chemicals than dolphins, Busbee said.

"Dolphins eat fish," he said. "People eat fish. People accumulate these compounds in their body fat just like dolphins."

Matagorda offers some of the finest saltwater fishing on the entire Texas Gulf Coast. Its coastlines stretch for over 50 miles, from Sargent in the east, to the Port O'Conner Jetties in the west, and north to Palacios. The historic town of Matagorda is in the center of the coastline on the Colorado River. The entire area supports a thriving recreational fishing industry.

In view of Busbee's dolphin studies, scientists want to know whether people who live along the Texas Gulf Coast and eat fish on a regular basis would also accumulate high levels of the compounds, Busbee said. They just do not know yet.

If present in stored fat, the toxic PCBs could pose a particular threat to women, especially those who are pregnant or nursing. Women draw on their fat reserves, where PCB compounds are stored, to produce milk, just as dolphins do.

"When a female dolphin is making milk, she*s using up blubber," Busbee said. "As she uses up that blubber to make milk, all of those compounds that have been stored in the blubber get offloaded into the milk. These baby dolphins are being exposed to tremendously high levels of lipid-soluble compounds. This has been documented in a number of studies."

If the scientists are able to attribute the dolphins* cause of death to PCBs, Busbee said, their finding might also help explain the world*s shrinking dolphin population, which in some places has fallen by 50 percent in the past 10 to 15 years.

Viruses have killed off large numbers of the marine mammals, he said, but some scientists believe pollutants are more likely the underlying cause of those deaths. PCBs and other environmental pollutants suppress the immune system in animals, including humans, making it tougher for them to fight off infectious agents such as viruses and bacteria.

Scientists have already linked pollution to birth defects among seals in the heavily polluted Baltic Sea and other areas around the world. Scientists would not necessarily observe these same defects among dolphins as the defective dolphins may die in infancy or be eaten by predators.

Busbee and his researchers will continue to examine the biochemistry behind how dolphins respond to poisonous chemicals in coastal waters.

"It*s a cause for concern," he said. "These dolphins live on our coast. They live in Matagorda Bay. They eat the same fish that we catch in the Gulf and eat ourselves."

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2. For Immediate Release

February 19,1999

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP LAUDS SENATE DECISION TO BAN INCINERATORS

MANILA - The environmental group Greenpeace has hailed the Philippine Senate's approval of the proposed Clean Air Act, which includes a total ban on incinerators, as an international environmental milestone that sends a strong signal against the dumping of toxic technologies on Philippine shores. Greenpeace toxics campaigner Von Hernandez said the landmark passage of the bill on Wednesday makes the Philippine Senate the first ever in the world to approve a nationwide ban on waste burners, which spew extremely harmful pollutants into the atmosphere.

Greenpeace praised both the bill's sponsor, Sen. Gregorio Honasan, and the Environment Committee chair, Sen. Loren Legarda, for supporting the passage of the bill with the incineration ban intact. "The unanimous decision of our Senators to ban incinerators is a significant international environmental milestone. Besides legislating a preemptive strike against toxics pollution, the Senate decision also sends a message that the Philippines will not be made a dumping ground for unpopular dinosaur technologies now facing a lot of opposition in many other countries," said Hernandez.

President Joseph Estrada, who earlier spoke out against incineration because of the huge economic liabilities associated with such facilities, has also certified as urgent the passage of the Clean Air measure.

The Senate move is expected to shift the pressure to the House of representatives where authors of the House version, succumbing to a strong pro-incinerator lobby, have already maneuvered to remove the incineration ban and put in its place "stringent standards" for the operation of incinerators. The said standards, however, were never subjected to public scrutiny during the committee hearings on the bill and were surreptitiously inserted by some members of the House Committee on Ecology in place of the burner ban. "We hope enlightened legislators in the House of Representatives will move swiftly to reinstate the incinerator ban in their proposed Clean Air Act. When all is said and done, the so-called stringent standards being proposed by some members of Congress will not prevent incinerator emissions from harming public health and the environment, especially since the DENR is tragically ill-equipped to implement end even monitor the most basic of anti-pollution measures," Hernandez said. "By banning incinerators, we hope to jumpstart waste prevention and recycling programs as the solution to our waste problems," added Hernandez. Incinerators have been found to be the largest producers of dioxins and furans, two of the most toxic chemicals known to science.

Studies have shown that exposure to even one molecule of these pollutants can cause cancer, birth defects and miscarriages. It can also harm the reproductive system, cause sterility, weaken the immune system, and cause liver and kidney damage as well as behavioral problems especially among children.

For more information, please call Von Hernandez at mobile 0917-5263050

Von Hernandez

Greenpeace International Toxics Campaign, Southeast Asia 121 D. Tuazon St., Sta. Mesa Heights, Quezon City, PHILIPPINES Telefax: (632) 740-1820; Tel: (632) 740-8774 Mobile: (63-(0)917) 526-3050 E-mail: von.hernandez@dialb.greenpeace.org