British Columbia researchers found more than 200 contaminants in water and chinook salmon tissue samples collected from five sites in the Lower Fraser River estuary including everything from cocaine and antidepressants to caffeine and flame retardants. They say some of the “cocktail” that the juvenile fish are swimming in presents a possible risk to the young fish themselves and is concerning for the endangered whales that eat them. Researchers, primarily from the federal Fisheries Department and Simon Fraser University, completed a study slated for publication in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, which is believed to be the largest screening of its kind in the Lower Fraser River. Senior author Tanya Brown said of the contaminants found, 16 were deemed “priority contaminants,” meaning the amounts were high enough that they “had potential…
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