TBT from antifouling paint is still endangering marine life, says WWF

Background
During the '60s the chemical industry developed efficacious anti-fouling paints using metallic compounds, in particular the organotin compounds tributyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPT). These surface coatings are designed to prevent the attachment of algae, molluscs and other organisms which slow down vessel speeds.

These chemicals are highly toxic for sealife (larvae, mussels, oysters and fish). These compounds slowly "leach" into the sea water, killing barnacles and other marine life that have attached to the ship. Numerous studies have shown that these compounds persist in the water, killing sealife, harming the environment and entering the food chain.
Organotin is toxic in the marine environment at extremely low concentrations and has been shown to interfere with the biological processes in a diverse range of species. It has been found to bioaccumulate in whales and other sea mammals and disrupt the endocrine system of a range of invertebrates leading to sterility and death. For this reason, they have been banned in many European countries, while several Community directives (Directive 76/769/EEC and the successive amendments thereto) provide for regular monitoring of organotin compound levels.

The WWF study:
The WWF said member countries of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), including the UK, are still allowing the toxin tributyltin (TBT) to contaminate wildlife and enter the food chain.

The environmental group is calling on member countries to ratify their own five-year-old legislation to bring an end to the pollution. The WWF is to submit a paper tomorrow to a meeting of the IMO on the problem of TBT pollution.

Its research shows the impact on mussels, oysters, clams, abalone and gastropods as well as high contamination of a range of other marine animals such as skipjack tuna and harbour porpoises.

Dr Simon Walmsley, head of WWF-UK's marine programme, said: "This is a scandal the world should be ashamed of. "Forty years after TBT's negative impacts were first identified and five years after the legislation to ban it was agreed, TBT is still used indiscriminately, polluting global marine life and our food chain." Only 17 out of 166 member countries of the IMO have ratified the legislation.

However, the majority of the shipping industry supports a ban, with only unscrupulous operators still using it. The leading paint companies have not produced TBT since 2003 and market commercially viable alternatives instead.

Dr Walmsley added: "Generally the shipping and paint industries support the legislation being ratified. Delegates at the IMO whose countries have not signed up - including the UK - should be ashamed. "This is the most toxic chemical ever deliberately released into the marine environment and there is no excuse for doing it."

The negative impacts of TBT were first suspected in the late 1960s. It has been shown to change the sex of dog whelks, has caused oyster crops failures in France and has closed shellfish farms.

The WWF said it contaminates wildlife in the open ocean as well as in coastal waters.

After 2008, EU legislation will ban the use of TBT on EU-flagged vessels and any ship painted with it will be refused entry to EU ports. WWF said the size of the EU market meant this would be enough to hamper any shipping company's trade.

Anyhow, because of the great stability of TBT, it will probably stay in the environment for a while even after total banning.



 Related studies (1997-2006):

The situation in the environment after the partial ban of TBT

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 I. Tolosa, J.W. Readman, A. Blaevoet, S. Ghilini, J. Bartocci, Milena Horvat, Contamination of mediterranean (Côte D'Azur) Coastal Waters by Organotins and Irgarol 1051 Used in Antifouling Paints, Mar. Pollut. Bull., 32 (1996) 335-341. DOI: 10.1016/0025-326X(96)00013-6

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Accumulation of TBT in aquatic organisms

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Bathini Madhusree, Shinsuke Tanabe, Ayaka Amaha Öztüprk, Ryo Tatsukawa, Nobuyuki Miyazaki, Emin Özdamar, Orhan Aral, Osman Samsun, Bayram Öztürk, Contamination by butyltin compounds in harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) from the Black Sea, Fresenius J. Anal. Chem., 359/3 (1997) 244-248. DOI: 10.1007/s002160050567

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L.H. el Hassani, A.G. Frenich, J.L. Martinez Vidal, M.J.S. Muros, M.H. Benajiba, Study of the accumulation of tributyltin and triphenyltin compounds and their main metabolites in the sea bass, Dicentrachus labrax, under laboratory conditions, Sci. Total Environ., 348/1-3 (2005) 191-198.  DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.12.061

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