Environmental Research: • Introduction • Marine Mammals • Sea Otters • Sea Birds • Seafood • Endocrine Effects • Analytical • References Background: • Introduction • TBT Paint Types • Definitions		Study on North Sea Birds Not at Risk When Exposed to TBT in Their Diet Investigators have found that oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) foraging in the North Sea intertidal area are not at risk from exposure to TBT in their diet. DeForest et al. (1998) assessed the potential risks to this year-round resident shorebird because TBT contamination concerns had recently been raised in the North Sea. The authors felt that studying the oystercatcher would represent a worst case scenario because it�s a year-round resident along North Sea shorelines and it eats primarily invertebrates (mussels, snails, etc.) that accumulate higher concentrations of TBT than do other potential prey of birds, such as fish (Laughlin 1996; Lee 1996). Several conservative assumptions were made in the study, which would lead to overestimating the birds exposure to TBT and thus potential risks. The conservative assumptions included calculating exposure to 1) a diet of entirely bivalves and snails, organisms known to accumulate TBT concentrations more readily than others, 2) assuming 100 percent of their diet was consumed at the same site, and 3) assuming the birds foraged in commercialized areas. Despite the conservative assumptions, no risks from TBT exposure were predicted.
ORTEP Association - Antifoulants Background -Environmental Research - What's New Site maintained by Irony Media, LLC