US regulators to review chemical that causes salmon deaths

federal regulators USA will review a chemical found in almost all tires at the request of West Coast indigenous tribes, who want it banned because it causes the death of salmon when they return from the ocean to streams to spawn.

The Yurok Tribe in California and the Port Gamble S’Klallam and Puyallup Tribes in Washington filed a request this year with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban the rubber preservative 6PPD, arguing that rain carries substance from highways into rivers and causes the death of fish, particularly coho salmon. The states of Washington, Oregon, Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut also sent letters to the agency, in which they spoke of the “irrational threat” what the 6PPD represents for its waters and marine life.

The agency’s decision to grant the request is the beginning of a lengthy regulatory process that could culminate in a ban on the substance. Tire manufacturers are already looking for an alternative that meets federal safety requirements.

“We could not stand by and do nothing while the 6PPD kills the fish that sustain us,” said Joseph L. James, chief of the Yurok tribe, speaking to The Associated Press. “This lethal toxin has nothing to do in any basin where they live salmon”.

6PPD has been used as a tire rubber preservative for 60 years. It is also found in footwear, synthetic surfaces, and children’s play equipment.

As tires wear, they leave small particles of rubber on roads and parking lots. The chemical breaks down and becomes 6PPD-quinone, which is deadly to salmon, rainbow trout and other aquatic animals. Coho salmon seem to be particularly sensitive; It can cause death in a matter of hours, the tribes argued.

Salmon are an important part of the diet and culture of tribes in California and the northwestern United States, which have fought for decades to protect the declining fish population from the effects of climate change, pollution, urban development and dams, which prevent them from passing to the areas of the streams where they spawn.

Source: AP