Alligator Tales: New Lessons about Environmental Contaminants from a Sentinel Species

O ver the past few decades, the field of toxicology expanded from a focus on lethality and carcinogenicity to include alterations in development and reproduction resulting from low-dose exposure to anthropogenic contaminants. As early as 1962, Rachel Carson brought reproductive impairment in wildlife exposed to pesticides to the public's attention in Silent Spring During this time, a host of man-made chemicals, ranging from organochlorine (OC) pesticides to phthalates and surfactants to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (used as flame retardants in various industrial applications) have been implicated in developmental and reproductive abnormalities in numerous species.