Ubiquity of chemical contamination in marine mammal populations: A literature review

• Main Author: Bondoc, Jonah L.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2010
• Subjects: Marine pollution; Marine mammals—Effect of pollution on; Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/6654
• Institution: De La Salle University

This paper provides a review of the current scientific literature to provide information on the anthropogenic contaminants such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are being detected in increasing quantities in various tissues (blubber, liver, kidney, muscles, brain) of marine mammals. Abnormal conditions have been correlated to pollutant residues in these animals, concerns have been raised regarding the alarming cancer cases. A pattern of increasing contaminant concentration levels in males have been reported. In females, they increased until sexual maturity, then decreased, and finally increased again in late life, thus suggesting the tendency of the mother to offload her contaminated burden to her offspring during gestation and lactation. The data come from multiple sources. As continued research are being conducted on the toxicological effects of chemical pollutants on the health of marine mammals in other parts of the world, it is equally important to conduct research work like this in the Philippines where strandings, on an average of 15 evets per year, must be maximized. In some regional areas, marine mammals are mistakenly regarded as human food sources. Public health is therefore greatly at risk via the process of biomagnification. In addition, it is important to measure chronic versus acute exposures of marine mammals. Long-term exposure to comparatively low levels of some contaminants may be more deterrent to a population’s continued success than a single, high-impact event.