Then, they study an egg yolk protein found in the perch’s’ livers, called vitellogenin, which may provide evidence of endocrine disruption in the state’s aquatic species.

Over the past few years, studies of Minnesota’s waters have found a variety of unregulated chemicals — such as pharmaceuticals, fragrances, fire retardants, detergents and insecticides — which are widespread in the state’s lakes and rivers.

When male fish are exposed to EACs, they can start to develop female attributes, such as increased vitellogenin concentrations; in more extreme instances, male fish have also been found to produce eggs in their testes.

And while these chemicals have been linked to health problems such as infertility and different types of cancer, “it’s too soon to say whether feminized fish are indicative of health effects for humans too,” an article by National Geographic said.

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While several bans and policies have offered some protection, the same chemicals threatening these birds 60 years ago continue to accumulate in their bodies—and new chemical threats are adding to their toxic burdens, according to two new studies.

The two studies add to evidence that pollutants not only persist in the Great Lakes, but continue to travel up food chains to reach and endanger apex predators; and suggest that birds in the Great Lakes continue to impart toxic loads to their offspring—results that do not bode well for long-term bird populations.

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