Sea otters living along B.C.'s South coast and Vancouver Island have high levels of toxic "forever chemicals" present in their bodies, a new study finds.

Researchers found elevated levels of the chemicals, commonly found in food packaging, cosmetics, electronics and other consumer products, in samples of 11 dead sea otters collected between 2016 and 2021.

University of British Columbia master's candidate Dana Price led the study, published this week in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

“I think the main takeaway here is that we did find these contaminants in sea otters. This gives us a baseline that we can compare things to in the future," she said, noting it was the first study of its kind in the province. WATCH | Toxic chemicals in B.C. sea otters:

Harmful 'foreve

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