Birds in Rocky Mountains Suffering From Cadmium Poisoning
Forty-six percent of adult white-tailed ptarmigans in the southern Rocky Mountains suffer from cadmium poisoning, Oregon State University researchers report in today’s Nature. The birds eat willows, which concentrate cadmium from the environment, said biologist James R. Larison. Many other animals also eat the willow and may have similar problems, he said. Cadmium is present in soil in the region, but mining makes even more of it biologically available.
--Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II
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