Plastics suspect in lobster illness(t time New York City sprayed mosquito po...)

Date:8/14/2008

t time New York City sprayed mosquito populations to prevent the spread of West Nile virus. Laufer, who began his career as an insect endocrinologist, suspected the toxins from the sprayings may have contributed to the lobster die off. In 2001, while searching for the mosquito toxins in lobsters, he instead found alkyphenols.

"It's a real problem," Laufer says. "Plastics last a long time, but breakdown products last even longer. Perhaps shell disease is only the tip of the iceberg of a more basic problem of endocrine disrupting chemicals in marine environments."

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Contact: Diana Kenney dkenney@mbl.edu 508-289-7139 Marine Biological Laboratory Source:Eurekalert

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