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PCBs Cause Birds To Sing a Different Tune
An anonymous reader writes "Songbirds living along the Hudson River in New York state are exposed to levels of PCBs that don't kill them but do disrupt the songs they sing, reports a team of researchers from Cornell University. Their study reveals that birds residing in regions with higher environmental PCB contamination levels have higher total blood PCBs, which affects their singing behaviour: the team found these species' songs varied predictably based on their PCB load, and also based upon the type of PCBs. Thus, the scientists suggest that another of the many toxic effects of sublethal environmental PCB pollution are neurological effects that translate into observable behaviour changes that disrupt song quality used by birds to communicate."
What the fuck is PCB?
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are man-made chemicals that were widely used as chemical coolants and electrical insulators in electrical motors and transformers.
Just in case anyone else didn't know.
General Electric dumped tons of PCBs into the Housatonic near Pittsfield, too. And for years we were told that they probably weren't a big deal.
Mark Zuckerberg was raised in Dobbs Ferry, which lies on the Hudson River. The town itself is named for the ferry service that ran across the Hudson River there during the revolutionary war. Had he been raised in a community with fewer PCBs in the water, he might have sung a different tune and founded Twitter instead. Rapper DMX is also allegedly from Dobbs Ferry... he could have been an opera singer instead of naming himself after a drum machine!
The effect on reproductive success is not yet determined, but that would hardly be the only measure of harm. Two humans poisoned until they have an IQ of 50 or less will still manage to reproduce (often) if not prevented, but is that a good thing overall?
Careful reading of TFA would solve your problem. They did take blood samples and measure PCBs, then they recorded the songs of those same birds. They compared to the songs of other birds and their measured PCB levels.