Ocean Sentry
Just as the federal Environmental Protection Agency failed to protect imperiled species around San Francisco Bay from pesticides, the agency hasn”t shielded the Arctic polar bear from harmful chemical exposures, an environmental group charged in an intent-to-sue letter Wednesday.
Some home and farm pesticides registered by the EPA are so persistent that they are transported to the Arctic via rivers, ocean currents and air where the bears consume them at risk to their health, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, a group with offices in San Francisco.
The polar bear — already at risk from global warming as higher temperatures cause shrinking and thinning of their pack-ice habitat — have some of the highest concentrations of chemicals of any Arctic mammals, scientists say. Bears already exhibit immune, endocrine and reproductive effects, the letter sent to the EPA said.
The Endangered Species Act requires federal agencies to ensure that their decisions won’t jeopardize imperiled species by seeking advice from scientists at government wildlife agencies such as Fish and Wildlife.
But the EPA, according to the letter sent to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, hasn’t been reviewing whether pesticides, including the insecticide chlorpyrifos, are harming the polar bears.
(From mysanantonio.com, by Jane Kay)
