Those things in the ocean have nothing to do with us, do they?

Like sinkholes on land, many people tend to think that if we dump something into the ocean it goes away forever, if my magic, and can no longer affect humans or human health. People have also tended to think that we are in charge of this planet and the animals that inhabit it, focusing on what they can do for humans and how we can use them, instead of what they could teach us and how damages to their health can indicate future dangers for human health. A new study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is using sea species, particularly the bottlenose dolphin, as sentinel species to indicate how pollution and diseases could affect human health. Dolphins have been considered one of the most intelligent species in the world, and certainly in the ocean and parallels have been drawn between human and dolphin behavior for some time. This was mostly based on behavior and intelligence, but now we are finding certain similarities in diseases and how they affect both species, including epilepsy, diabetes and HPV. Studying disease pathologies in dolphins can give us insight into how ocean degradation could affect human health as well as insight into possible treatment and prevention options. Humans and dolphins consume many of the same seafoods, but dolphins are exposed to these contaminant twenty-four hours a day, give a clearer and more concentrated view of the resulting complications.

Off the coast of Georgia bottlenose dolphins have exhibited the highest levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) levels ever reported. PCB is a contaminant that has been banned in the U.S. for some time, but can still be found in many forms of seafood that we eat. This study has found that the contaminant may be suppressing immune functions in the dolphins. Especially concerning is that equally high concentrations were found in sea life thirty miles away, indicating that the contaminants are moving along the coast through the marine food web. When dolphins were examined and found to have decreased thyriod function, increased liver enzymes and decreased immune functions, it prompted the CDC to study the affects of people who live on nearby coasts and are dependent on seafood. At least this shows that we are starting to take warning from the endangered health of sea creatures. Dolphins also are the first natural animal model for type II diabetes; studying their genome could help find a treatment. A shared large brain and specialized red bloods to handle high blood glucose demands may explain why humans and dolphins, two very different species, have similar ways of handling sugar.

While we have known that algae blooms can rob waters of needed sunlight and oxygen, new research shows that animals exposed to domoic acid, found in large algae blooms, can develop seizures which can result in a permanent state of epileptic disease, like human Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. There is at least one human case of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy that has been traced to eating contaminated with domoic acid.

Humans need to stop thinking that any toxic substances we throw anywhere will just disappear. Sinkholes and oceans have been dumping grounds for waste for a long time and now we are seeing that our groundwaters are polluted from dumping in sinkholes and seafood is poisoned, disrupting the entire ocean ecosystem and food chain. We are also continuing to discover that studying ocean life and trying to understand their heath and the problems that are arising can warn of possible dangers to human health, as well as possibly providing insight into treatment to human diseases. NOAA is establishing sentinel species in the ocean to help provide this insight. This document is still in the editing phase and is not available to the public on their extensive website yet, but my dad who works there allowed me to see the document, which was very interesting. Humans need to stop thinking that we are disconnected from the environment, whether on land or sea, and we need to plan ways of getting rid of waste that dont involve simply putting it out of sight.