But even with this additional information, Busbee said, scientists still do not know what killed the 10 dolphins. The data simply aren't there. Because they were stressed and using up their normal blubber reserves, they were releasing chemicals stored in the blubber, exposing themselves to extremely high levels of compounds. This finding raises questions about whether people living near the bay or eating seafood are also accumulating high levels of potentially poisonous PCBs. Research suggests that humans may be even more vulnerable to PCBs and related chemicals than dolphins, Busbee said.
People eat fish.
People accumulate these compounds in their body fat just like dolphins. Scientists want to know whether people who live along the Texas Gulf Coast and eat fish on a regular basis would also accumulate high levels of the compounds, Busbee said. They just don't know yet. If present in stored fat, the toxic PCBs could pose a particular threat to women, especially those who are pregnant or nursing. As she uses up that blubber to make milk, all of those compounds that have been stored in the blubber get offloaded into the milk.