Organic pollutants in salmon

[Guest guest]

The Washington Post had a column entitled " Bear study reveals Heavy

contamination of salmon " . The research will be published Sept. 15 in

the American Chemical Society journal, Environmental Science and

Technology.

According to the story, Ross, a scientist at Canada's Institute

of Ocean Sciences, used fat and hair samples from bears in British

Columbia to test for persistent organic pollutants. There was a big

difference in bears that consume mostly berries, plants and insects

and those that gorge on spawning Pacific salmon.

Salmon-eating bears accounted for 90% of the PCBs, 70% of the

pesticides and 85% of the brominated flame retardants. Ross noted

that much of the pollution originated in Asia.

Tony