Shaw Institute
Formation1990
FounderSusan Shaw
PurposeEnvironmental research
Location
Websitewww.shawinstitute.org
Formerly called
Marine & Environmental Research Institute

The Shaw Institute, formerly the Marine & Environmental Research Institute, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit scientific research organization based in Blue Hill, Maine and New York City. The institute conducts research into ocean pollution, flame retardants, microplastics and plastic pollution, sentinel species and climate change.[1]

Background

The Shaw Institute was established as the Marine & Environmental Research Institute in 1990 by environmental health scientist, marine toxicologist, explorer, and author Susan Shaw. The institute was renamed in 2018 to accommodate the organization's global research profile with emphasis on improving human health and to reflect the 30-legacy of its founder, who is credited as the first scientist to show that brominated flame retardant chemicals used in consumer products have contaminated marine mammals and commercially important fish stocks in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.[2][3]

Background

Founded in 1990 by Susan Shaw (as the Marine & Environmental Research Institute), the Shaw Institute was established to research and expose environmental health threats through innovative science and engage in strategic partnerships to improve human and ecological health. Shaw is globally recognized for pioneering high-impact environmental research on ocean pollution, climate change, oil spills, and plastics that has fueled public policy over three decades. In 1983, with landscape photographer Ansel Adams, she published Overexposure, the first book to document the health hazards of photographic chemicals. Shaw is credited as the first scientist to show that brominated flame retardant chemicals used in consumer products have contaminated marine mammals and commercially important fish stocks in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. She became the first scientist to dive into the Gulf of Mexico oil slick following the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion to investigate the impacts of chemical dispersants used in response to the spill.[4][5][6][7]

As of 2019, the institute conducts research into ocean pollution, plastics and microplastics, chemical health threats, and climate change in the Gulf of Maine and raises awareness of the toxic legacy of man-made chemicals on human health and marine environments. The institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit scientific research organization funded primarily by grants and charitable contributions.

Milestones

In 1990, Shaw established the Marine & Environmental Research Institute (MERI) and began long-term marine sentinels research on contaminants and endocrine-disrupting effects in marine mammals that became the Institute's central focus over the next two decades.[8] In 2000, the Institute hosted its first international conference: The Atlantic Coast Contaminant Workshop ACCW 2000, Endocrine Disruptors in the Marine Environment: Impacts on Marine Wildlife and Human Health, uniting international wildlife and human health scientists.[9][10] Shortly thereafter, the Institute launched a coastal monitoring program, a lecture series, and education programs.

In 2000, Shaw Institute began long-term research focused on marine sentinel species to characterize the extent of contamination of the northwest Atlantic marine ecosystem from Maine to New York, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).[11] This work has shown that levels of toxic chemicals, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), in northwest Atlantic harbor seals are among the highest in the world.[12][13]

In 2002, the Institute convened the Gulf of Maine Forum: Protecting Our Coastal and Offshore Waters in Blue Hill in conjunction with the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, representing New England states and Canadian provinces.[14] A year later, the Shaw Institute begins its student internships program for scientific research and monitoring. In 2004, the Ocean Environment Lecture Series is launched, attracting international experts in a variety of fields. That same year, the long-term Blue Hill Bay Monitoring Project, the first bay-wide health assessment of its kind, is established to produce a ten-year baseline dataset on conditions and issues of concern. In 2014, the project expands geographically to include Penobscot Bay and targets research on microplastics, invasive species, and seafood contamination.

In 2012, the Institute pioneered microplastics research in Blue Hill Bay, Maine.[15] Alarming findings about the presence of microplastics in coastal waters prompted concern for human health (via seafood consumption).

In 2013, Shaw was lead investigator of a study that tested a group of firefighters in San Francisco[16] and found that their blood contains high levels of flame retardants and cancer-causing chemicals such as dioxins and furans, produced by the burning of flame-retarded household materials.[17][18] Based on these findings, in 2014, the Institute announced plans for a long-term study of chemical exposure and cancer risk in U.S. firefighters named the National Fire Fighter Cancer Biomarker Study, funded in part by IAFF and IAB.

Starting in 2017, the Institute began a multi-year project and partnership with researchers from Sweden, Greenland and Iceland to assess the converging impacts of climate change and flame retardant chemicals on marine mammals from the US Atlantic, Baltic, and Arctic seas.

Plastics Research

In 2012, Shaw Institute conducted the first microplastics study of its kind in the Gulf of Maine. Using new collection methods, they detected an average of 17 microplastic fragments per liter in local seawater samples. These high results prompted the institute to monitor input sites including stream and river mouths around Blue Hill Bay.

In 2014, the Institute developed a study to measure microplastics in Maine seafood, which identified surprisingly large numbers of microplastic fragments in oysters and mussels. Shaw Institute also conducted analysis of microplastics in tissues of mussels, fish, and marine mammals.[19] These numbers prompted questions about bioaccumulation in human consumers. In 2014, Shaw Institute testified in support of legislation to ban the use of plastic microbeads in personal care products, which passed unanimously.[20]

In 2018, in partnership with Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Shaw Institute scientists lead a 2018 study on the uptake and expulsion of microplastic fibers by blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) in the Gulf of Maine.[21] In 2019, the Shaw Institute partnered with the international Plastics Health Coalition in order to advance understanding of the damaging effects of microplastics in the human body and to promote plastic reduction on a global scale.

References

  1. ↑ "Shaw Institute | 30 years of Environmental Impact Research". www.shawinstitute.org. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  2. ↑ Shaw, Susan. "Susan Shaw | Speaker | TED". www.ted.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  3. ↑ Shaw, Susan D.; Berger, Michelle L.; Brenner, Diane; Kannan, Kurunthachalam; Lohmann, Nina; Päpke, Olaf (2009-05-01). "Bioaccumulation of polybrominated diphenyl ethers and hexabromocyclododecane in the northwest Atlantic marine food web". Science of the Total Environment. 407 (10): 3323–3329. Bibcode:2009ScTEn.407.3323S. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.02.018. ISSN 0048-9697. PMID 19269019.
  4. ↑ Wells, PG (1984), "The Toxicity of Oil Spill Dispersants to Marine Organisms: A Current Perspective", Oil Spill Chemical Dispersants: Research, Experience, and Recommendations, ASTM International, pp. 177–177–26, doi:10.1520/stp30237s, ISBN 9780803104006
  5. ↑ WILSON, ELIZABETH (2010-08-09). "Dispersants' Effects Debated". Chemical & Engineering News. 88 (32): 5. doi:10.1021/cen080510133052. ISSN 0009-2347.
  6. ↑ Shaw, Joyce M. (2010-01-01). "History of the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory". Gulf of Mexico Science. 28 (1). doi:10.18785/goms.2801.13. ISSN 1087-688X.
  7. ↑ Mccarthy, Lillah (1990), "Swimming: III", Shaw, Palgrave Macmillan UK, p. 198, doi:10.1007/978-1-349-05402-2_109, ISBN 9781349054046
  8. ↑ Larsson, D.G.J.; Hällman, H.; Förlin, L. (July 2000). "Skewed embryonic sex ratios in a viviparous fish: a result of endocrine disruption?". Marine Environmental Research. 50 (1–5): 191–192. doi:10.1016/s0141-1136(00)00172-0. ISSN 0141-1136.
  9. ↑ Partnership., Casco Bay Estuary (2007). Toxic pollution in Casco Bay : sources and impacts. Casco Bay Estuary Partnership. ISBN 978-0939561360. OCLC 132687763.
  10. ↑ "Marine mammals at threat from PCBs". Marine Pollution Bulletin. 20 (11): 539–540. November 1989. doi:10.1016/0025-326x(89)90339-1. ISSN 0025-326X.
  11. ↑ Shaw, Susan D.; Brenner, Diane; Bourakovsky, Anna; Mahaffey, Christie A.; Perkins, Christopher R. (October 2005). "Polychlorinated biphenyls and chlorinated pesticides in harbor seals (Phoca vitulina concolor) from the northwestern Atlantic coast". Marine Pollution Bulletin. 50 (10): 1069–1084. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2005.04.010. ISSN 0025-326X. PMID 15907943.
  12. ↑ "The Bangor Fire", Songs and Ballads of the Maine Lumberjacks with Other Songs from Maine, Harvard University Press, 1924, pp. 176–179, doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674282360.c51, ISBN 9780674282360
  13. ↑ Shaw, Susan D.; Brenner, Diane; Bourakovsky, Anna; Mahaffey, Christie A.; Perkins, Christopher R. (October 2005). "Polychlorinated biphenyls and chlorinated pesticides in harbor seals (Phoca vitulina concolor) from the northwestern Atlantic coast". Marine Pollution Bulletin. 50 (10): 1069–1084. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2005.04.010. ISSN 0025-326X. PMID 15907943.
  14. ↑ Fairchild, Elizabeth A. (January 2017). "Indications of Offshore Spawning by Southern Gulf of Maine Winter Flounder". Marine and Coastal Fisheries. 9 (1): 493–503. doi:10.1080/19425120.2017.1365786. ISSN 1942-5120.
  15. ↑ "Sources of macro and microplastics", Marine Plastic Debris and Microplastics, United Nations, 2016-05-11, pp. 35–64, doi:10.18356/f4eb59e6-en, ISBN 9789210601603
  16. ↑ Shaw, Susan D.; Berger, Michelle L.; Harris, Jennifer H.; Yun, Se Hun; Wu, Qian; Liao, Chunyang; Blum, Arlene; Stefani, Anthony; Kannan, Kurunthachalam (June 2013). "Persistent organic pollutants including polychlorinated and polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in firefighters from Northern California". Chemosphere. 91 (10): 1386–1394. Bibcode:2013Chmsp..91.1386S. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2012.12.070. ISSN 0045-6535. PMID 23395527.
  17. ↑ Shaw, Susan (January 2010). "Halogenated Flame Retardants: Do the Fire Safety Benefits Justify the Risks?". Reviews on Environmental Health. 25 (4): 261–305. doi:10.1515/reveh.2010.25.4.261. ISSN 2191-0308. PMID 21268442. S2CID 20573319.
  18. ↑ "Dr. Marshall Hall on Puerperal Diseases". The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. 19 (27): 421–424. 1839-02-06. doi:10.1056/nejm183902060192701. ISSN 0096-6762.
  19. ↑ "Microplastics found in Gulf of Maine". WGME.com. 23 November 2018.
  20. ↑ "SP0033, LD 85, item 1, An Act To Prohibit Synthetic Plastic Microbeads in Personal Care Products and Over-the-counter Drugs". www.mainelegislature.org. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  21. ↑ Renzi, Monia; Guerranti, Cristiana; Blašković, Andrea (June 2018). "Microplastic contents from maricultured and natural mussels". Marine Pollution Bulletin. 131 (Pt A): 248–251. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.04.035. hdl:11368/2963220. ISSN 0025-326X. PMID 29886944. S2CID 47009030.
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