New research shows that melting Antarctic glaciers are releasing once frozen stores of persistent organic chemicals, now banned in many parts of the world. Heidi Geisz, Ph.D., a marine biologist with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, studying the fate and effect of organic contaminants in the Antarctic, has found that DDT concentrations in penguins has remained at the same levels as they were 30 years ago, when DDT was widely used. Arctic animals, such as whales, seals and birds, have had a significant decline in their DDT levels during the past decades, while the more stationary Antarctic penguins have not. The study, "Melting Glaciers: A Probable Source of DDT to the Antarctic Marine Ecosystem," published in Environmental Science and Technology, identifies the melting snow and ice as the continued source of total DDT in this southern ecosystem. The release of DDT also means that other persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including PCBs and PBDEs (industrial chemicals that have been linked to health problems in humans) are also being released.
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