A team of scientists has confirmed the existence of a toxic substances dump off the coast of Southern California, between Long Beach and Catalina Island.
University of California professor David Valentine and his team employed a deep sea robot to track the ocean floor, 3,000 feet deep, and found an area littered with barrels of poisonous chemicals.
“We are talking about hundreds of thousands of barrels of industrial waste, much of it toxic, that was just dumped there because it was easy,” Valentine told CBS Los Angeles.
[Planeta Tierra: Miles de toneladas de plástico flotan sobre el lago boliviano Uru Uru]
Scientists believe the area may contain between 336,000 and 504,000 barrels of waste of acidic sludge from the production of DDT, a powerful pesticide whose use was banned in the United States in 1972 due to its adverse effects on the environment and human health.
How did these toxic waste get to the site? Valentine’s team believes it was a second landfill for Montrose Chemical Corp, a California company that was the largest producer of DDT in the United States and, according to a legal battle, was responsible for dumping millions of pounds of the insecticide into sewers. county for decades.
The finding has led to a thorough investigation of the landfill to try to determine the extent of the contamination. A group of 31 Scripps scientists One of the most technologically advanced research ships in the country set out last week to examine the ocean floor. The researchers hope to publish a final report in late April.
DDT affects the granddaughters of exposed women
The main concern about the dump at the bottom of the ocean is how the barrels of toxic substances are affecting people, animals and the ecosystem, since it is an extremely poisonous product.
A team of scientists from the University of California and the Oakland Institute of Public Health confirmed for the first time that the granddaughters of women who were exposed to DDT during pregnancy they suffer significant threats to their health. There are higher rates of obesity and menstrual periods that start before the age of 11.
Findings from the study published Wednesday in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, determined that both factors may expose these women to greater breast cancer risk, high blood pressure, diabetes, among other diseases.
—-
“This is further proof that not only the pregnant woman and her baby are vulnerable to the chemicals to which they are exposed, but also their future grandchild,” Barbara Cohn, director of the Studies of the Los Angeles Times, told the Los Angeles Times. Child Health and Development from the Institute of Public Health, a research project in California that has followed more than 15,000 pregnant women and their families since 1959.
[“Esta es la década más decisiva en la historia para hacer frente a la crisis climática”: le piden a Biden transformar los sistemas energéticos del mundo]
Cancer in sea lions
The landfill find may help biologists understand the high levels of DDT in California sea lions and their surprising cancer rate.
According to Marine Mammal Center veterinarian Cara Field, about 25% of adult sea lions have cancer. “An extremely alarming figure,” said the doctor who added that given the high rate of the disease, it is important to understand what causes the disease in these animals.
With information from Los Angeles Times, CBS Los Angeles Y Fox Los Angeles.
–
