Whales threatened by toxic metals in the oceans
June 25th, 2010 - 8:11 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt
New York, Jun 25 (THAINDIAN NEWS) American Scientists say they have discovered high levels of toxic metals and heavy metals in whales.
The toxic metals include cadmium, aluminum, lead, chromium, silver, mercury and titanium which are all very dangerous, if found in high levels. Scientists say the toxic metals pose a health threat to the ocean mammals and even to the millions who consume them. Scientists blame the contamination on pollution.
Scientists discovered the metals after they shot nearly a thousand sperm whales with darts. They were carrying out tissue sampling on the mammals. Scientists however fear that the contamination could affect fishes, and that would be disastrous because more than 1 billion people depend of fish for their protein needs. Scientists say the contamination could shorten the lives of the whales.
Scientists dread the contamination most, because the adults have been identified to absorb the contamination and pass it to the offspring. “The entire ocean life is just loaded with a series of contaminants, most of which have been released by human beings. These contaminants, I think, are threatening the human food supply. They certainly are threatening the whales and the other animals that live in the ocean,” according to biologist Roger Payne, who is the founder and president of Ocean Alliance, which is the organization which had conducted the research.
Chromium, one of the metals found in the whales is a very dangerous metal. It has been identified to increase the risk of lung cancer in humans.
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Tags: american scientists, biologist, cadmium, chromium, contamination, darts, fishes, health threat, heavy metals, human food, lung cancer, ocean alliance, ocean life, ocean mammals, roger payne, silver mercury, sperm whales, tissue sampling, toxic metals, york jun