Scientists using alligator, fish samples to learn more about GenX

WILMINGTON, NC (StarNews) — A team of researchers will use samples taken from alligators, catfish and striped bass in the Cape Fear River and surrounding areas to attempt to answer some lingering questions about GenX.

Scott Belcher, an N.C. State toxicologist, said the study stemmed from a Nov. 10 community forum hosted by the Stop GenX in Our Water group.

“They were talking about their houses’ pipes and their water and all this,” Belcher said, “and they kept asking: The fish out of (the Cape Fear River), is it safe?”

Belcher’s team hopes not only to start answering that query, but also to determine if GenX and several other perfluorinated compounds “bioaccumulate,” or linger, in the alligators and striped bass.

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