Chemicals take toll on dolphin

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Pasted from Janice:http://tinyurl.com/hpkbfMarch 11, 2006Chemicals take toll on dolphinScientists find substance linked to diseases in lagoon bottlenoseBY JIM WAYMER FLORIDA TODAY Scientists have discovered chemicals used to fireproof plastics and products in the blood and blubber of bottlenose dolphin in the Indian River Lagoon.They don't yet know for certain how the chemicals got there, but they suspect they could be playing a role in the new diseases, such as herpes, that are attacking the marine mammals."The data suggests at this point that these flame retardants suppress a part of the immune system that makes antibodies," said Greg Bossart, one of the researchers who made the discovery. "There's a potential of opening up these animals to a Pandora's box of diseases."Bossart and his colleagues found flame

retardants called polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PBDEs in tests of dolphin in the lagoon and in Charleston Harbor, S.C. They measured mean levels of total PBDEs in lagoon dolphin at about 1,500 parts per billion in fat tissue, more than three times the highest levels found in humans, 500 parts per billion.(con't...) We are of one race, the human race.There are no boundaries or divisions on Earth from Space.We are co-creators of Earth, we are the caretakers of our Planet.

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