Birds’
eggs in High Arctic contain chemical additives used in plastics
Ian
Sample Science editor
Sun 17
Feb 2019 22.00 GMT
Scientists
have warned about the impact of plastic pollution in the most pristine corners
of the world after discovering chemical additives in birds’ eggs in the
High Arctic.
Eggs laid
by northern fulmars on Prince Leopold Island in the Canadian Arctic tested
positive for hormone-disrupting phthalates, a family of chemicals that are
added to plastics to keep them flexible. It is the first time the additives
have been found in Arctic birds’ eggs.
The
contaminants are thought to have leached from plastic debris that the birds
ingested while hunting for fish, squid and shrimp in the Lancaster Sound at the
entrance to the Northwest Passage. The birds spend most of their lives feeding
at sea, returning to their nests only to breed.
Northern
fulmars have an oily fluid in their stomachs, which they projectile-vomit at
invaders that threaten their nests. Scientists believe the phthalates found
their way into the fluid, and from there passed into the bloodstream and the
eggs that females were producing.
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