Flight of the poisoned

Antarctic seabirds
are accumulating
dangerously high
levels of toxic organic chemicals in
their bodies, according to Nico
van den Brink of
the Institute for
Forestry and
Nature Research in
Wageningen, the Netherlands. He
says the culprit
is pollution produced by
industrial
plants thousands of
kilometres
away. He focused in
particular on
hexachlorobenzene
(HCB), which is
released into the
air from industrial
incinerators and
other plants. HCB
can interfere with
birds' ability to
transport oxygen
around their bodies. Van den Brink
believes that
HCB accumulates in
cold parts of
the world through a
phenomenon
known as the 'cold
condenser'
effect. Pollutants
released in the
warmer parts of the
world remain as
a vapour and rise to
the upper
atmosphere. Once
they reach the
poles, however, they
condense and
fall to Earth (New
Scientis4 Vol 154,
No 2084).