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April 1, 2008

Chickadee is the new canary

No one seems quite sure what's happening to birds in the Pacific Northwest, but whatever it is, it's tragic -- and it makes Bud Anderson of the Falcon Research Group want to puke.

Birds began appearing in Alaska in the 1990s with deformed beaks, which prevent them from preening and make it difficult for them eat. Many have died due to the deformity while being cared for, and no one knows how many more have died in the field. More than two thousand such birds have been documented in Alaska, but now the problem seems to be moving south into Washington.

Called long bill syndrome, the mysterious ailment has no known cause as of yet. But there's a good chance it's linked to industrial pollution: birds with deformed beaks in Alaska, are burdened with significantly higher than typical levels of a pesticide metabolite, and both they and their offspring have high levels of PCBs. Birds with the syndrome also had "highly significant damage" to their DNA.

The thing about all these toxic chemicals we expose ourselves -- and wildlife -- to everyday is that no one knows what effects they'll have when they're combined with each other and with other environmental factors. When similar deformities started showing up in Great Lakes birds in the 1970's, they were linked to industrial pollution (those PCBs again, as well as dioxins and dibenzofurans). In California in the '80s, it was selenium. But why is it happening again, and why does it appear to be limited to the Northwest this time? And why isn't there a law in place to make sure chemicals are safe before they reach the market -- and the environment?

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