DDT Levels In US Birds Higher Than In Migratory Species - CSM

[hatrack]

When R. Given Harper set out to understand why North America's migratory birds were declining, he set a unique course. While other researchers zeroed in on habitat loss as a key problem, he decided, on a hunch, to look at an old culprit -- the pesticide DDT -- and its specific effects on songbirds.

The results were intriguing. Traces of DDT and other related chemicals were showing up in the birds. But the real shock came when Dr. Harper, a biology professor at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, compared his results with DDT levels in nonmigrating songbirds. These year-round residents of North America -- including a who's who of birds like the northern cardinal, black-capped chickadee, and dark-eyed junco -- had more kinds of chemicals and dramatically higher levels of them than the migrating species. Those are surprising results. Heavily restricted in the United States since 1972 and a declining problem for eagles, osprey, and other predatory birds, DDT continues to show up in alarming levels in nonmigrating songbirds. Does that spell trouble ahead for these still-healthy species? Are humans at risk? No one knows. But one lesson seems clear: Beware of what you put into the environment, because it can be extraordinarily difficult to remove.

EDIT
Harper's findings are puzzling partly because of their geographical specificity. Some 18 species that reside year-round in North America have roughly 1 to 10 parts per million of DDT -- 2 to 10 times the levels of those that migrate to Latin America. Also, all 17 of the organochlorine compounds that Harper tested for -- chemical cousins to DDT -- appear in each of those nonmigrating species. In contrast, one to five of the compounds were found in migrating birds.

EDIT

Just why North American songbirds that do not migrate have high levels of metabolized DDT and other organochlorines in their bodies remains a mystery, Harper says in a phone interview. One hypothesis: The US used far more DDT than Latin America, so there may be a lot still lingering in the soil, he says. About 1.4 billion pounds were used in the US from World War II until 1972, the Environmental Protection Agency says."

EDIT

http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/21776/

[illflem]

1. I've read that traces of DDT have been found in

10,000 year old polar ice. Perhaps it's naturally occurring.
One thing I know for sure is it was finally determined in studies with the California Brown Pelican that the researchers were the reason the bird's egg shells were thinning. Seems that the researchers disturbing the birds was the real cause of the problem, once the studies stopped everything went back to normal with egg mortality.

[jpak]

2. Greenwash nonsense

It was NEVER found in 10k YO ice, it is NOT natural and was THE cause of the shell thinning in Brown Pelican eggs (and other bird species).

Furthermore high concentrations of organochlorine pesticides, mercury and PCB's are found in polar bear fat. The reason???? Long-range transport, long environmental half-lives and bio-concentration.

No need invoke Fairy Tales about DDT.

[illflem]

4. Prove it then

[jpak]

6. OK

DDT has been found in recent - not ancient - annual deposits of glacial ice...

http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_ID=646523

It's also found - exclusively - in modern marine sediments...

http://www.acfnewsource.org/environment/ddt_so_cal.html

DDT was first synthesized in 1873. It is NOT a natural product...

http://pops.gpa.unep.org/04histo.htm

Brown Pelican populations most certainly experienced serious declines due to the accumulation of organochlorine pesticides and their metabolites in their reproductive tissues/organs...and they rebounded after the US banned the production of DDT in 1972.

http://www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife/article.cfm?articleId=689&issueId=61

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Brown_Pelican_dtl.html#reproduction

http://www.pacificbio.org/ESIN/Birds/BrownPelican/pelican_overview.htm

THANK YOU RACHEL CARSON!!!!

Finally...

Please give us the peer reviewed scientific evidence that DDT is found in 10,000 year old ice.

Please give us the peer reviewed scientific evidence that human disturbance - not DDT - caused the extirpation of the Brown Pelican.

and

Please give us the peer reviewed scientific evidence that DDT is a natural product.

Prove it.

[amazona]

3. "researchers" disturbing Brown Pelicans what nonsense

The Louisiana Brown Pelican went extinct in only few years because of eggshell thinning caused by DDT and endrin (spelling?).

The current population of Brown Pelicans found in the state are introductions from Florida, which took hold well after DDT was banned. However, our original native population was killed down to the very last bird in such a short period of time that "researchers" didn't know there was a problem until it was too late.

Today we have more researchers studying eggshell and other Brown Pelican issues than we ever did in the 1950s -- and yet we have zillions more Brown Pelicans.

What you think you "know for sure" about the extirpation of the Brown Pelican is absolutely false. Forgive me for my rudeness, but when a person claims to be sure about a matter of fact that isn't factual, I find it very disturbing. If you mis-remembered something, fine. If you got confused, fine. We all make mistakes; it's part of being human. But when you make a wrong statement, please do not claim that it's "one thing I know for sure" because you really don't help your case that way.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[amazona]

8. Lowery Birds of Louisiana

It is the definitive text. His section on the history and extinction of the Louisiana population of Brown Pelican is definitive. You don't have to believe me. But you would have to dis-believe one of the greatest ornithologists of the 20th century who worked with one of the greatest ornithology colleges in the world (at Louisiana State University). He wrote in the 1970s and was concerned that the Florida birds introduced into Louisiana wouldn't "take" -- fortunately, that fear was incorrect and the Brown Pelican thrives here today. But the Louisiana population is gone forever. And he gives a concise but chilling description of what he observed.

Sorry, your argument is not with me. It is with the experts who know what happened and were on the scene when it happened.

If you don't like documented facts, and especially if you have never heard of Lowery, then I am going to assume that you are completely without knowledge or education in Brown Pelican history or issues.

Sorry but we're talking the ABCs here. If you don't know the alphabet, don't criticize my grammar.

I am sure there are areas where you have more information than I do. It is clear that the Brown Pelican is not one of them.

What you said is as ridiculous as telling me that the world is flat.

It is truly that basic.

Sorry. I've made an idiot of myself on the internet before too if it makes you feel any better.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[enki23]

7. interesting. but...

if he was studying the decrease in migratory species, and found excess ddt in nonmigratory species... how would the former explain the latter? i've seen enough to be convinced that ddt was harmful to some bird species. but the levels we're talking about today are pretty small relative to those which are likely to cause serious problems. and in any case... well, i guess i'll have to read the article. what i just read seemed a bit confused.

[amazona]

9. eh let me see if I can explain it

He was trying to compare nonmigrants to migrants. Hypothesis-- Migratory birds are exposed to more DDT and this is the cause of their decline. The hypothesis was disproved when he discovered that what he calls non-migrants (I'm pretty sure he means birds who, yeah, they migrate but migrate to the Gulf Coast rather than leaving the U.S. -- I mean, really, dark-eyed junco a NON-MIGRANT, come on now) have higher levels of DDT.

The DDT situation in the U.S. was a special one where we were dumping so much of this poison into the environment that we were wiping out huge numbers of species high on the food chain all in one chewy chunk.

It was an easy problem and pretty easy to solve by banning the poison although clearly all DDT is not gone from the environment. It hangs around for awhile. We did know that actually.

He was hoping for an easy solution to the problem of declining migratory species. He ain't gonna get it, because there is more than one cause for the declines, and the solution to such problems as habitat loss and the demand for wind farms and cell phone towers ain't gonna be cheap and easy. Everybody loves the birds until not having a tower means that the answer to "Can you hear me now?" is "no."

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[htuttle]

10. But, but, I thought it was the fault of feral cats?

[Kool Kitty]

11. Only in Wisconsin.