Baby porpoises in waters off the UK are being exposed to a cocktail of chemicals in their mother’s milk.
The chemicals are particularly toxic during brain development and are transferred by female harbour porpoises to their young through their milk.
Baby harbour porpoises around the UK are carrying a more toxic cocktail of Polychlorinated biphenyla known as PCBs than their mothers, according to the new study.
Figures show 209 variants of PCBs, used as a coolant for electrics, have varied levels of persistence in marine mammals.
But the most persistent toxins remain in a mother’s body until they are transferred to infants during lactation.
