[CPEO-MEF] Midway Island lead

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

 Lead poisoning Midway albatross

By Jan TenBruggencate
Honolulu Advertiser (HI)
December 13, 2006

A national wildlife organization says that 10,000 Laysan albatross 
chicks will die each year from lead poisoning on Midway Atoll if the 
federal government doesn't immediately launch a major cleanup of lead 
paint contamination there.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it is doing all it can with 
limited funds, but the American Bird Conservancy says it's not nearly 
enough. It said researchers are finding "shockingly high lead 
concentrations" in the blood of chicks nesting near the dozens of 
buildings that are peeling ancient layers of lead-based paint.

"Federal funds are urgently needed to clean up this toxic mess to 
protect the Laysan albatross as well as future visitors to the new 
marine national monument," said George Fenwich, conservancy president.

Midway is the world's largest Laysan albatross colony, and they nest on 
virtually every flat surface on the atoll's three islands, including 
next to old buildings. The chicks peck at and eat bits of debris, 
including paint chips, as they wait for their parents to return with 
food. Those that swallow a lot of paint chips can have lead 
concentrations so high that it leads to neurological problems.


...

For the entire article, see
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061213/NEWS11/612130355/1021/NEWS

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


_______________________________________________
Military mailing list
Military@list.cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org/mailman/listinfo/military