A new study shows that the same toxic pollutant recently found in B.C. farmed salmon has also turned up in endangered killer whales on the West Coast.

Dr. Peter Ross
Dr. Peter Ross

The chemical, polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), is used as a flame retardant – and is found in everything from carpets to computers.

Dr. Peter Ross, of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans' Institute of Ocean Sciences, is one of the authors of the new report. He says PBDEs are similar to PCBs.

"We did ban PCBs 30 years ago for these very same qualities," says Ross, a leading expert in marine mammal toxicology.




PCBs are a known threat to the 85 killer whales that live in the waters between Vancouver and Seattle. Ross says this new chemical could push them closer to extinction.

"We've now discovered they have detectable levels of a new generation of flame retardants – PBDEs – similar to PCBs, but we have not regulated them," he says.




The chemicals were found in samples of orca blubber taken between 1993 and 1996. Ross says the levels are probably much higher now.

Across the border, Washington State is fine-tuning its plan to clean up PBDEs in the environment. But Canada still has no regulations to deal with the problem.

Ivy Sager-Rosenthal, of the People for Puget Sound, says it's time Canada did something, because the chemicals don't restrict themselves to one side of the border.

"We can do all we can here in Washington state, but if Canada continues to allow these chemicals out into the environment, the orca whales that feed up there are going to be just as contaminated," she says.

Ottawa is expected to have a policy in place this winter. But the critics say the ubiquitous compound will continue to spill into the whales' environment for years to come.