GBR Sea Turtle Blood Reveals Heart & Gout Drugs, Pesticides, Indicators For 1,000s Of Chemicals

Heart and gout medications, pesticides, herbicides and other industrial chemicals have all been found in the blood of green sea turtles in the Great Barrier Reef, according to researchers. The discovery was made as part of project led by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which compared samples from turtles in urban areas to the more remote locations.

Environmental chemist Amy Heffernan from the University of Queensland said she was surprised to see the chemicals in the sea-going turtles. "What you put down your sink, spray on your farms, or release from industries ends up in the marine environment and in turtles in the Great Barrier Reef," Dr Heffernan said.

Chemical exposure has been linked to stress and other side effects in wildlife, and the indications of inflammation and liver dysfunction were found in some green turtles. Dr Heffernan said a cocktail of unknown chemicals present in the turtles' systems was even more concerning.

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The blood samples were collected from green turtles at Cleveland Bay in Townsville, Upstart Bay at the Burdekin River and the remote Howicks island group of Cape York. Across the three sites, the researchers found indicators for hundreds of thousands of different chemicals present in turtles.

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-02/medications-found-blood-sea-turtles-great-barrier-reef-qld/8583172