PARENT SESSION
PS6 - Contaminant Effects on Amphibians & Reptiles
Sunday, 17 November 2002
8:00 AM to 6:30 PM
Exhibit Hall
(P098) Watersheds close to the Monsanto plant (Anniston, AL) show growth inhibition by the FETAX assay.
Sauterer, Roger*,1, Harper, Carla1, Hardy, Robin1, Miller, Latoshia1, Rayburn, James1, 1 Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, AL, USA
ABSTRACT- The Monsanto/Solutia plant in Anniston, AL is of great environmental and public health concern due to contamination of local soils and watersheds by PCB-laden runoff from on-site landfills. In order to determine potential toxic effects on amphibians under controlled laboratory conditions, we analyzed water and aqueous sediment extracts from three sites on Snow and Choccolocco Creeks ranging from 1 - 30 km from the Monsanto plant using the FETAX developmental toxicity assay. None of the sites showed significant differences in embryonic mortality and malformations, but embryonic growth inhibition was observed at all three sites. The Snow Creek site, 1 km from the Monsanto plant, showed dose-dependent growth inhibition using both water and sediment extracts, while the proximal Choccolocco Creek site, 5 km from the Monsanto plant, showed growth inhibition only using undiluted water and sediment extracts. The distil Choccolocco Creek site, 30 km from the Monsanto plant, showed growth inhibition only with undiluted water samples. Embryonic growth inhibition appears to be more pronounced at sites closer to the Monsanto plant and is more pronounced using site water rather than sediment extracts. We tentatively conclude that uncharacterized causative agents responsible for the observed growth inhibition of Xenopus embryos may be associated with the Monsanto plant.
Key words: FETAX, Xenopus, monsanto, pcb's