Car tires are polluting the environment and killing salmon. A global plastics treaty could help
By Timothy Rodgers, Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental Engineering, University of British Columbia
Rachel Scholes, Assistant Professor of Environmental Engineering, University of British Columbia
Simon Drew, Research Manager, Department of Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia
In the 1990s, scientists restoring streams around Seattle, Wash., noticed that returning coho salmon were dying after rainstorms. The effects were immediate: the fish swam in circles, gasping at the surface, then died in a few hours.
Over the next several decades, researchers chipped away at the problem until in 2020 they discovered the culprit: a chemical called 6PPD-quinone that forms when its parent compound, a tire additive called…
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Wednesday, July 30, 2025