ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An environmental group has given formal notice that it will sue the U.S. government to protect polar bears from pesticide pollution.
The Center for Biological Diversity on Wednesday gave 60-day notice it will sue the federal government's Environmental Protection Agency for failing to consider the effects of pesticides on polar bears and their Arctic habitat.
The group says pesticides reach the Arctic through the atmosphere and the ocean, plus the food chain as pesticides are digested but not broken down.
Spokeswoman Rebecca Noblin says the pollutants become concentrated in polar bears, the predator at the top of the food pyramid. She says the contaminants have been linked to suppressed immune function, endocrine disruption and cub mortality.
