Most Fish From Lakes Is Too High In Mercury
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 4, 2004; Page A06
The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that more than half of all freshwater fish it sampled from America's lakes could be unsafe for women of childbearing age to eat twice a week, according to data disclosed by environmental groups.
More than three-quarters of the fish sampled also had mercury levels that may be unhealthy for children younger than 3. The data, collected between 1999 and 2001 on 2,547 fish from 260 lakes, are part of the first-ever nationwide study the EPA has conducted on freshwater fish in an ongoing four-year project.
"It's a public health imperative to reduce mercury emissions as quickly as possible," said Emily Figdor, a policy analyst for Clear the Air, which compiled the EPA findings. The new numbers, which EPA released as raw data in the past year, represent the latest evidence that mercury emissions pose a public health threat, the environmentalists said.
In March, the EPA and the Food and Drug Administration warned pregnant and nursing women and young children against eating more than a small amount of canned albacore "white" tuna once a week because of mercury contamination, based on analyses of commercial saltwater fish sampled from the marketplace.
For freshwater fish, federal officials advised consumers to check local health advisories. As of 2002, 43 states had warned residents to limit how much freshwater fish they consume, restrictions that encompass 30 percent of the nation's lakes and 13 percent of its rivers....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37702-2004Aug3.html
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