Seattle fish research could shake up global tire industry

Electric vehicles have clear environmental benefits over gas-powered cars, yet all cars and trucks are polluters when it comes to their tires.

Research in Seattle-area creeks has discovered tire bits shedding lethal amounts of a little-known, salmon-killing chemical called 6PPD-quinone.

That research has led California officials to start regulating 6PPD, the tire-rubber stabilizer that degrades into toxic 6PPD-quinone, with consequences that could reverberate around the world.

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control is expected to issue a draft rule in May requiring tire manufacturers to look for alternatives to 6PPD.

“6PPD-quinone is among the most toxic chemicals that we know of for aquatic life,” Jenifer McIntyre, an ecotoxicologist at Washington State University in Puyallup, said at the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference in April.