Marine Mammal Pollutant Project

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Killer whales and many other marine mammals are contaminated with toxic flame retardants. GSP is providing information about the pollution of marine mammals to concerned citizens and scientists for take action to protect our marine mammals by reducing toxics in products.

Marine scientists are very concerned over the deteriorating health of marine mammals, especially over the last two decades. Many of the newly emerging and resurgent diseases are associated with immune system dysfunction and suggest a broad environmental distress syndrome caused, in part, by human activities. Regulatory guidelines are not protecting marine mammals from the impact of industrial and agricultural chemicals that are increasingly polluting the world’s coastal eco-systems since the 1960’s.

Dr. Susan D. Shaw, a marine mammal toxicologist and founder and director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute (MERI) in Blue Hill, Maine reports that brominated flame retardant levels in marine mammals are becoming an issue of escalating concern. Her own research on northwestern Atlantic coast harbor seals shows that toxic chemical levels, especially in pups, are as high as those found in seals from the most industrialized regions of the world, including the North and Baltic Seas, with potentially serious implications:

“Over the past three years this population has experienced recurring disease outbreaks and high mortality rates. While the specific disease agent is unclear, our studies show that these seals carry high levels of PBDEs, PCBs, and other chemicals in their tissues. These may be compromising their normal immune responses rendering them vulnerable to viruses and other pathogens”.

Marine Mammal Pollutant Project

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