Response to comment on `Elevated accumulation of tributyltin and its breakdown products in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) found stranded along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts'

Abstract

The contamination levels and tissue distribution of butyltin compounds in dolphins stranded along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts were studied. Tissues of bottlenose dolphins were taken from those animals stranded dead, a few dolphins were from mass mortalities that occurred in 1990. The total butyltin concentrations in diseased animals which were compared with the data available for marine mammals from different regions were examined. Studies linking chemical contaminants and disease in dolphins were correlative and no conclusive evidence exist as yet.