Marine pollution is pushing the world’s killer whale population ever closer to extinction, with chronic exposure to PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) threatening the reproductive and immune systems of the largest member of the dolphin family. Due to their voracious appetites and their place at the apex of the ocean food chain, killer whales (Orcinus orca)
are considered as an “indicator species” regarding the health of marine ecosystems worldwide.
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A study of PCB concentrations in the blubber of 351 orcas around the world concludes that the chemical is easily transferred to offspring and endangers the long-term viability of more than 50% of the world’s killer whale population. Researchers led by Pierre Desforges at Aarhus University in Denmark developed a risk assessment model capable of forecasting the effects of PCB exposure on these creatures in the world’s
oceans, and over the next 100 years.
