http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/018055.htmlA University of Southern Maine research lab has found evidence that chromium, an industrial pollutant, is present in right whales and may help explain poor reproductive rates that have helped make them the world’s rarest large whale.
USM’s Maine Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health used cell lines developed from samples of right whales’ skin, lungs and testes to test the effects of the pollution.
It is the first to look at chromium, a common sediment pollutant that is discharged from metal-finishing, leather tanning and textile-dyeing industries. It often is found in stainless steel, other alloys, and dyes or paints.
The results are scheduled to be published in a scientific journal this fall, the school said.
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