Have bald eagles in the Northwest been eating less Ben & Jerry’s?
Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that the bald eagle population around the Columbia River is rebounding not only because of the DDT but because of reduced levels of ambient dioxin.
As we have pointed out, DDT had nothing to do with either the demise or the rebound in bald eagle populations.
It is also without foundation to assert that drops in avian dioxin levels have anything to do with population rebound.
Over the last 30 years, dioxin emissions from Northwest pulp and paper operations have been cut dramatically — so lower avian dioxin levels are to be expected. But this says nothing about any causal relationship.
It would, of course, be simple enough to demonstrate a such relationship through lab experiment. But as in the case of DDT, such data most likely won’t support the enviro narrative.
Who knows, maybe the birds have just been eating less dioxin-laden Ben & Jerry’s.
Click for the OPB report, “What bald eagles are telling us about the Columbia“.
Click for JunkScience.com’s “100 things You Should Know About DDT”.
Click for Steve Milloy July 2006 FoxNews.com column, “DDT Bald-Eagle Myth Still Flying High”.