Media Relations
2006 April 3
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Recent studies of wildlife in the Bloomington area have found serious health problems with embryonic development in animals exposed to PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) released from local PCB-contaminated sites. These problems include heart deformities in birds and reproductive problems in fish. The studies were conducted by researchers in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University and other institutions.
The study of birds in the area included 283 nestling passerine birds from PCB-contaminated sites around Bloomington and Bedford, in rural Indiana. The hearts of the birds showed a variety of deformities that could affect heart function including thin ventricle walls, microsurface roughness and changes in the overall shape of the heart.
"At the higher concentrations of PCBs, we see some pretty dramatic effects, with more than 30 percent of the population of birds having serious or obvious heart deformities," said SPEA environmental toxicologist Diane Henshel, who worked on the study.
In laboratory studies done by the group, one of the first organs in birds that seemed to be affected almost immediately by PCB contamination was the heart. The study could lead to more work trying to find a connection between bird deformities and those that could occur in humans, particularly to fetuses as they develop.
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