Bermuda?s ponds and nature reserves have reached a state of unsustainable pollution, with pollutants in the sediment at toxic levels.

This disturbing conclusion was drawn from a recent study done on Bermuda?s cane toad population, scientist Dr. Jamie Bacon told a forum on sustainable development this week.

Commonly seen as ?road kill? around Bermuda, the toads are also taking a beating in their natural habitats.

Meanwhile Bermuda?s back gardens, the last place most homeowners want to see toads, have become a last sanctuary for the amphibians.

Dr. Bacon said the Island?s nature reserves are contaminating the very creatures they are supposed to protect.

The Bermuda Amphibian Project, part of the Bermuda Zoological Society, has discovered an overwhelmingly and grossly deformed toad population in seven study sites across the Island, five of which are nature reserves.

Dr. Bacon, the project?s research associate, said deformities were first noticed in the toad population in 1998 but since then the problem has exploded.

By last year, the abnormality rate in juvenile and adult toads had grown to 30 percent ? with the normal rate for abnormalities being five percent.

Some test sites have had abnormality percentages of up to 55, Dr. Bacon said.

The problem is widespread ? deformed toads were found in all nine parishes and at all 33 testing sites.

Deformities begin at the tadpole stage, Dr. Bacon said, with ?toadlets? emerging from the ponds showing the same high rate of deformities as their older counterparts.

?(The) worst sites were natural or excavated ponds and canals, some of which were on former dump sites, and lined or cement golf course ponds,? she said. In these locations the average rate of deformity was 25 percent.

Alternatively, the safest sites were lined or cement backyard ponds, with an average deformity rate of five percent.

Tests done at five target ponds ? Seymour?s Pond, Pitman?s Pond, Paget Marsh, Port Royal #3 and Cloverdale Pond ? revealed that water and sediment samples from all five were toxic to amphibian larvae.

?In some cases 100 percent of the larvae were deformed,? Dr. Bacon said. ?The problem is not a transient one ? it does not appear to be going away on its own.?

To make matters worse, controlled testing revealed that there may be a transgenerational effect that may delay ?fixing? the problem.

?Not only are tadpoles being affected by pollutants, but they may be concentrating them and adding them to the food chain,? Dr. Bacon said.