6. Release: Toxics in the Wild

“When that Science article on tomcod was published,” recalls geneticist Isaac Wirgin, “I’d never been so popular.” His phone was off the hook with calls from the New York Times, National Geographic, National Public Radio, and even the Associated Press. Atlantic tomcod, improbably celebrated by the Québécois each winter, are ugly little fish that also make their home in the PCB-laden Hudson River, fodder for the much more popular bluefish and bass. Wirgin and colleagues had just published a paper confirming that Hudson River tomcod had evolved resistance to incredibly high concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), the chemicals responsible for turning the majestic Hudson into the largest Superfund site in the nation. Over a period of 30 years, General Electric, the company that promised “We Bring Good Things to Life,” released an estimated 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson.