From Scientists Warn, 'Don't Pollute the Puget Sound':

Because of the sound's geography, polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs are still being found in Chinook salmon caught in its waters, at levels up to six times higher than fish from the Columbia and Sacramento rivers and along the east side of Vancouver Island. PCBs have been banned since the 1970s.

"Once it's here, it stays in the sound," said Sandra O'Neill, a fish contamination expert with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

That's just one example of the way Puget Sound is polluted by what consumers flush down drain pipes. Scientists are also finding fish dosed with antidepressants and shellfish tainted with amnesia-causing toxins, researchers said at the Wednesday forum.

"People need to be mad as hell about this situation, but they aren't," said Brad Ack, head of the Puget Sound Action Team, a government agency. "We haven't gotten the message across."