BP oil spill residue found in Minnesota pelican eggs

Pollutants from the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago are showing up in the eggs of Minnesota birds that migrate to the gulf. Researchers for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources have found evidence of petroleum compounds and the chemical used to clean up the oil in the eggs of pelicans nesting on islands on Marsh Lake in western Minnesota. Petroleum compounds were present in 90 percent of the first batch of eggs tested. Nearly 80 percent of the eggs contained the chemical dispersant used in the gulf.

Read the MPR news story on researchers' efforts to learn how petroleum compounds affect developing bird embryos.