Document 2R2nr8R2yO0ENLjx53R0ya2mb

-ffTN. <N Sound Osprey m Found Periled By Chemical Long Island Sound ospreys have more chemical PCB contamination than any other wildlife in North America, according to a Cor nell University study re leased last week. A common chocolate-and-white bird of prey, the osprey is found Ii i Examined at Berkeley Spitzer conducted his tests of * two-year period by taking over due osprey eggs from nests in Gardiner's Island: Old Lyme. Conn.; Westport, Mass., and Ava lon. NJ. The eggs were frozen examined at the laboratory of Spilzer's collaborator, Robert 51*Prougn of the University of California at Berkeley. Risebrough, an environmental bmchemmt, checked the eggs for botb PCB and pesticides. *1. w. from 0I<1 Lyme had the highest concentration--2,270 parts of PCB per million. That 2?*" !v ****** times as much as those that caused massive embry onic deaths in Ring Dove eggs in a study done by another Cor nell researcher. ."/.though the osprey is not officially designated an endan gered species, if this trend con tinues it will lead to the extinc tion of the bird. The number of osprey nests has declined 10%' * yoar for the last two years. \ Unless something happens to re* eerae thie, the handwriting is on *" wall for Ute osprey," Spitzer Mid. He said that 20 years ago there were more than 1,300 osprey nest* in Eastern Long Island and Southern Connecticut Today, only 12$ remain in the same region. The Lone Island Sound osprey Is an endangered species. throughout Hie world, but the species' greatest concentration is found in the Long Island Sound area. -. "Such levels of PCB in the os preys are cause for alarm and suggest that Long Island Sound may be more contaminated with that chemical than any other body in North America," said Cornell graduate student Paul R. Spitzer, who conducted the study. PCB are the initials of poly chlorinated biphenyls. It is used in industrial processes to improve rubber, plastics and paper prod ucts. HONS Ob`0<S