There are recent signs that chemicals in Taiwan's increasingly polluted environment may disrupt endocrine systems in human and wildlife populations, researchers said yesterday.
At an international conference on environmental hormones and what's known as "persistent organic pollutants," Lee Ching-chang (
"We found that levels of total mercury in the sediment and fish samples of two rivers were higher than the rest. The sources [of the mercury] have yet to be identified," Lee said.
Around the world, scientific evidence is mounting that suggests that exposure to certain toxic chemicals in industrial waste has caused abnormal growth in shellfish and slowed the breeding rate of aquatic creatures.
Lee measured the levels of mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides, phthalates and others in his report.
He said that the sediments and fish samples in 17 harbors collected from 2001 to 2003 contained higher levels of tributyltin (TBT) than previous samples collected in 1990 and in 1997. TBT is a chemical compound used in paint to keep ships' hulls clear of marine life.
"The result suggests that the coastal areas of Taiwan have been seriously polluted by TBT," Lee said.
Meanwhile, researchers in Taiwan also found the high levels of TBT are associated with a phenomenon whereby female oysters develop male sexual characteristics. Western scientists have also confirmed that TBT boosts the production of testosterone in female mollusks, causing them to change from female to male.
Officials of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) told the Taipei Times yesterday that the use of TBT for boats less than 24m long has been prohibited since last year.
"Although we have not regulated the use of TBT for large international merchant ships, we at least limit the spread of TBT by regulating local small boats," Yuan Shaw-ying (
Yuan said the poisonous, hormone-disrupting compounds have been used in ships' paint for decades, leaving a toxic legacy around the world. But the EPA will tighten its regulations if other countries decide to ban the use of TBT.
In addition to coastal pollution, researchers said that freshwater pollution has also caused abnormalities in other creatures such as the South American apple snail (福壽螺), introduced into Taiwan in late 1970s. Now, the spread of the apple snail seriously jeopardizes many crops, such as lotus, rice and water chestnut. The apple snail has been listed as a hazardous introduced species by the Council of Agriculture.
Liu Li-lien (
"We found that the change from female to male in apple snails could be linked to the overuse of pesticides containing triphenyltin, which is considered to be an endocrine disruptor," Liu said.
At yesterday's conference, Louis Guillette, a zoologist from the University of Florida, presented a report discussing how aquatic ecosystems are increasingly at risk because of chemical contamination.
He stressed that some scientific data suggests that embryonic exposure to contaminants can indirectly alter the endocrine and reproductive system of wildlife, rather than directly mimicking a hormone.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS