19th century whale oil a key to understanding pollution

Antique Whale Oil Provides Insights to Origin of Pre-Industrial Chemicals:

While large scale industrial production of HOCs did not begin until the late 1920s, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts say naturally produced HOCs were bioaccumulating in marine mammals before major chemical companies like Monsanto, Dupont, and 3M were making HOCs for industrial uses. Their findings are reported in the online version of the journal Environmental Pollution.

The results show that we're adding a lot of pollution at a much greater rate than similar chemicals were accumulating naturally.

It would be interesting to look at the olive oils discovered in archeological digs to see if they contain fewer chemicals that may be absorbed by trees during the industrial era.