Document NEvkeqxnD2x3BngMqYoJXzE

a JOURNAL DATE mt News EDigo&t Service Tha Tlaas April 2, 1971 U K coastal waters in ` precarious' By Pcftrcc Wright Science Correspondent Tile idle of BiilMn'ii coastal wa/fr* in dcxcribcd * precarious in the flrt official report carrying detailed evidence of (he extern of ermumination from mai-m*de chemictfi aim the poiacwou* heavy tnelal* contained in industrial waste. The report, produced by the Natural Environment Ketearth i Council. is the final mnesMUent of I the event* turroundinf the death* of ihovMOd* of sekbifdt in the kith Sea 18 month* aau. F.m* j mates at the final figure vary up to _ 100,000. * Tlie original implication of the widely uteri group of synthetic chemical* known a* polychiem* nulvdbtphenyl*. at POtkin the onaMcr it confirmed, tfui the con- idosionx produced by the iomt in* vestigHtionx of about twenlv laboratories h*w that some of the metal* that can poison man it absorbed in jroaM amount*. *ueh . a* antimony, cadmium, mercury and lead, ware present in some of the bird tiuoex. In a small number of the hud* that were eventually analysed, some heavy metal* wore detected In quantities mi which symptom* o-<f pohoning bw>o*uuIl.dI hh>e BexinpeucUtedd.. At that penmt "t me yc*> *? were in moult, using me rf then Morcd hotly fat to supplement feeding at a time when then muve nient was restricted. In such cir cumstances harmful accumulations of chcmtcalh could occur in ihc tissues in a way that would be less likely with a bird in prime con diiion earlier in the ycm. EfrtSirf: M ihc psmibimy t not ha ignorad. / HONS 033550