Threat To Killer Whales And Dolphins

PBCs, which were once used in paints and flame retardants, are posing great threat to Europe’s killer whales and dolphins.

12:20 17 January 2016

Scientists have said that PBCs, which were once used in electrical gear, paints, and flame retardants are posing great threat to humans and animals despite being banned from the 1970s.

 

The study finds that the pollutant has persisted in the environment and accumulating in top predators.

 

Lead author Dr Paul Jepson, a wildlife veterinarian from the Zoological Society of London, said: "For striped dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and killer whales, we have mean PCB levels that are excessive - they are really high - probably the highest in the world right now, by some way.

 

"Europe is a big big hotspot."

 

He added that unless something is done, the pollutant can make killer whales extinct.

 

"Europe produced about 300,000 tonnes of PCBs from 1954 to 1984. That was about 15% of the world's total.”

 

"A lot of this PCB, we don't know how much, has not been disposed of and is slowly leaking into rivers and estuaries, from landfills, and eventually into the marine environment."

 

"Our findings show that, despite the ban and initial decline in environmental contamination, PCBs still persist at dangerously high levels in European cetaceans," explained Dr Jepson.