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Male bass in Potomac River laying eggs

 

Male bass in the South Branch of the Potomac River in West Virginia

are laying eggs. This is not behavior that people in the know

typically expect from male bass. While researchers assume that

pollutants of some sort are responsible, this particular stretch of

the Potomac does well on the usual water-quality tests. " It's

counterintuitive to think we would have this type of problem out

there, " said Patrick Campbell of the West Virginia Department of

Environmental Protection. The culprit may be " emerging contaminants "

-- caffeine, hormones, prescription drugs, endocrine disruptors --

that are not typically tested for, either in river water or drinking

water. The U.S. EPA has set no standards for these pollutants,

saying more research is necessary. Scientists have only recently

developed equipment sensitive enough to detect them. Says researcher

Vicki S. Blazer, " We really don't know what's going on. "

 

straight to the source: The Washington Post, David A. Fahrenthold, 15 Oct 2004

<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=3343>