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a technical but potentially helpful article for folks fighting herbiciding projects
in salmon habitat...

> ______________________________ Forward Header __________________________________
> Subject: ED-Com: salmon and endocrine disruption
> Author:  "Pete Myers" <JPMyers@wajones.org> at Internet
> Date:    3/28/99 3:56 PM
>
>      This new research article in EHP puts concerns about contamination
>      squarely in the middle of salmon conservation efforts.  While this
>      article is about Atlantic Salmon, it raises many questions about
>      what's going on in the west, particularly in salmon drainages that
>      pass through agricultural lands or on forests on which herbicide use
>      has been standard practice for controlling post-logging succession.
>      What, for example, might be learned by comparing Alaskan and BC
>      drainages with further south where herbicide treatment is more
>      widespread?  What are the common "inert substances" used in
>      forest-applied herbicides.  etc.
>
>
>      -----------------------
>      Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 107, Number 5, May 1999
>
>      Does an Association between Pesticide Use and Subsequent Declines in
>      Catch of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) Represent a Case of Endocrine
>      Disruption?
>      Wayne L. Fairchild,1 Erin O. Swansburg,1 Jacqueline T. Arsenault,1 and
>      Scott B. Brown2
>
>      1Gulf Fisheries Centre, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Moncton, New
>      Brunswick, E1C 9B6, Canada
>      2National Water Research Institute, Environment Canada, Burlington,
>      Ontario, L7R 4A6, Canada
>
>
>
>      ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>      ----------
>      Abstract
>      Historical aerial applications of the insecticide Matacil 1.8D provide
>      an opportunity to look for potential effects of the endocrine
>      disrupting compound 4-nonylphenol (4-NP) on Atlantic salmon (Salmo
>      salar) populations. Matacil 1.8D contained the carbamate insecticide
>      aminocarb, with 4-NP as primary solvent. Between 1975 and 1985 Matacil
>      1.8D was applied to forests in Atlantic Canada to control damage from
>      the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana). After spraying,
>      estimated concentrations of 4-NP in water fell within a range in which
>      estrogenic effects might be anticipated. The spraying coincided with
>      final stages of smolt development in salmon. Salmon catch data were
>      evaluated considering effects on survival of the smolt stage. There was
>      a significant negative relationship between the returns of salmon and
>      the proportion of tributaries sprayed within the Restigouche River
>      drainage basin in 1977. There was also a broader event of unusually
>      heavy salmon smolt mortality in 1977, which contains a significant
>      relationship indicating that where Matacil 1.8D spraying occurred, the
>      smolt mortality increased. For 16 rivers exposed to spraying between
>      1973 and 1990, a significant proportion (p<0.005) of the lowest salmon
>      catches coincided with Matacil 1.8D spraying. A decline coinciding with
>      the use of Matacil 1.8D was also apparent in blueback herring (Alosa
>      aestivalis) catches in New Brunswick. Because similar relationships
>      were not evident for Matacil 1.8F or fenitrothion, neither of which
>      were formulated with 4-NP, we hypothesize that the 4-NP in Matacil 1.8D
>      was the causal agent. Concentrations of 4-NP described here are within
>      current ranges encountered in industrial effluents and municipal sewage
>      outfalls. Key words: aminocarb, endocrine disruptor compounds,
>      4-nonylphenol, populations, salmon, smoltification. Environ Health
>      Perspect 107:349-358 (1999). [Online 24 March 1999]
>      http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1999/107p349-358fairchild/abstract.h
>      tml
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