Bay mussels to be studied for contaminants

By Kelly Zito
San Francisco Chronicle

State scientists on Monday will cull mussels from the waters around Treasure Island as part of a national study of so-called "emerging contaminants" - certain compounds found in everyday items like shampoo, bedding and birth control pills.

California and federal officials say such chemicals are on the rise and potentially threaten human health and the environment.

"We're at the very, very beginning of trying to understand these trends," said Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the California State Water Resources Control Board's division of water quality.

Scientists will gather about 100 mussels from the isthmus between Yerba Buena and Treasure islands. Bivalves will also be collected in about 80 other sites around the state, including urban and agricultural areas. The tissues will be sent to labs for testing and then frozen as a historical record of contaminant levels.

Mussels, because they filter large volumes of water as they feed on microscopic plankton, are considered a kind of biological archive of the particles in any given waterway.

Leaps forward in testing technology and growing concern about the risks posed by the presence of synthetic hormones, antidepressants, flame retardants and preservatives in water supplies nationwide led regulators this year to broaden the scope of their Mussel Watch contaminant list.

Since 1986, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has collected mussels from scores of coastal waterways and the Great Lakes each year in order to track toxic substances. Historically, testing focused on so-called "legacy" contaminants such as PCBs and the pesticide DDT.

But with mounting evidence that myriad pharmaceuticals and other chemicals are washing through wastewater systems and storm drains and into the drinking water of millions of Americans, regulators are taking a harder look at a range of compounds.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in recent weeks named a dozen drugs as possible pollutants subject to regulatory oversight and announced a widespread study of drinking water that will look for 200 contaminants.

While the moves have raised the hackles of pharmaceutical companies and water utilities that question whether extremely small concentrations of certain chemicals cause any harm, scientists say it is critical to start assessing any long-term environmental or health impacts.

Already, researchers in Maryland, Seattle and Southern California have found that synthetic hormones contained in birthcontrol pills and hormone replacement therapies may be triggering reproductive mayhem in some fish species, causing male fish to grow female sex organs.

Other chemicals that scientists will look for with Monday's study are surfactants, a wetting agent present in shampoos and paints, and triclosan, an antibacterial found in many soaps.

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