WISCONSIN Platteville School Q. Our 7th grade class would like to know what chemicals other than DDT now are affecting the success of the bald eagles?
A. Several chemicals/compounds are concern still throughout the United States. Two metals, lead and mercury, as well as compounds known as PCB’s (polychlorinated biphenyls), are in our environments and we regularly screen for all of these. There are 209 “types” of PCB’s called congeners, which we also look for in prey, blood and eggs. Lead is often picked up while eagles consume other prey with lead shot in them, such as waterfowl, geese, or sometimes in deer carcass’. PCB’s and mercury are picked up through the food chain, mostly through/in fish. We are still concerned about, and still find DDT (and its breakdown products DDD and DDE) in eagle samples, even though it was banned nationally in 1972. Lead can debilitate and kill eagles. Mercury can cause eggs not to hatch. PCB’s can cause birth defects, and may reduce hatchability of eggs and/or survival of nestlings. Very high amounts could kill eagles directly.
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