[Mike]

This anomaly of gender-bend has been widely reported in many marine
species.
This is the part of the article that cought my attention~””the
chemicals attack the sex and thyroid glands, motor skills and brain
function.”” Gosh I’m seeing a lot of this kind of health involvement.
Bridget
people against chemtrails, phoenix chapter
pac-pc@yahoogroups.com

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?
c_id=500834&ObjectID=10363127
Chemical linked to gender-bender polar bears

11.01.06
By David Usborne

One in 50 female polar bears on an Arctic island have male and
female sex organs, researchers have found, in a study linking
pollution and flame retardant chemicals used in the Western world
with dangers to wildlife.

Scientists from Canada, Alaska, Denmark and Norway say significant
deposits of flame retardant PBDEs have been found in polar bears,
especially in eastern Greenland and Norway’s Svalbard islands.

Studies are still being carried out on what impact the chemicals
might be having on bears. Tests on lab animals such as mice indicate
they attack the sex and thyroid glands, motor skills and brain
function.

There is also evidence that compounds similar to PBDEs have
contributed to a surprisingly high rate of hermaphroditism in polar
bears. About one in 50 female bears on Svalbard has both male and
female sex organs, a phenomenon scientists link directly to the
effects of pollution.

“The Arctic is now a chemical sink,” said Colin Butfield, a campaign
leader for the Worldwide Fund for Nature, which last month indicated
that killer whales in the Arctic were also suffering from elevated
levels of contamination with fire retardants as well as other man-
made compounds.

“Chemicals from products that we use in our homes every day are
contaminating Arctic wildlife.”

The pollutants are carried northwards from industrialised regions of
the United States and western Europe on currents and particularly on
northbound winds.

Contaminated moisture often condenses on arriving in the cold Arctic
climes and is then deposited, ready to enter the food chain.

For several years, scientists have observed how the concentrations
of the pollutants are magnified as they ascend the food chain, from
plankton to fish and then to marine mammals such as seals, whales
and polar bears.

The new study, published in the journal Environmental Science and
Technology, shows, for instance, that one compound was 71 times more
concentrated in polar bears than in the seals they normally feed
upon.

Conservationists are especially alarmed by these new findings
because of the already fragile condition of the Arctic polar bear
populations, some of which could be devastated before the end of the
century.

As warming temperatures erode their hunting grounds, polar bears in
Canada’s western Hudson Bay region, for instance, saw their numbers
slide from 1100 in 1995 to only 950 in 2004.

The dangers now posed by the PBDEs are reminiscent of the crisis 30
years ago over PCBs – polychlorinated biphenyls – a highly toxic
byproduct of many industries that was also found to be migrating in
large quantities to the Arctic.

The dumping of PCBs was swiftly banned. Since 2004, manufacturing
has stopped in the US of two of the most toxic retardants, called
penta and octa. Stockpiles of both still exist, however.

According to Derek Muir, of Canada’s Environmental Department and a
leader of the new research, there are signs of a slightly different
retardant, typically used in construction materials and furnishings,
also showing up in the Arctic and in the bears, called HBCD.

“It’s a chemical that needs to be watched, because it does
biomagnify in the aquatic food webs and appears to be a widespread
pollutant.”

The research team tested 139 bears captured in 10 locations across
the Arctic region. They found that the bears in Norway’s Svalbard, a
wildlife refuge where all hunting is banned, had 10 times the levels
of the chemicals than bears in Alaska and four times those in
Canada.

Chain reaction

Scientists believe PBDEs – polybrominated diphenyls – are
contributing to hermaphroditism in polar bears.

One in 50 female bears have male and female sex organs on Svalbard
island.

Researchers say the chemicals used as flame retardants move from the
Western world and condense in the cold Arctic air.

The chemicals appear to become more concentrated as they pass up the
food chain, from plankton to polar bears.

One compound was 71 times more concentrated in polar bears as in
seals, the bears’ main food source.

– INDEPENDENT