A Little Poison With Your Fish?
There's been a public advisory about eating toxic fish. Those of you who have been eating fish because it's healthier, but you've been walking around achy and fatigued, listen up.
" Consumption of smallmouth bass caught in Chartiers Creek from the PA Route 980 Bridge in Canonsburg to the mouth in Washington and Allegheny Counties, and in Little Chartiers Creek from Canonsburg Lake Dam to the mouth in Washington County, should be limited to six meals per year, due to polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCB, contamination."
I see things like this and it really makes me wonder at the thinking. Do I need fish so much that I want a 1/6th portion of poison with it?
So what is PCB and why is it in my fish?
Polychlorinated biphenyl is an organic compound of benzene, carbon and chlorine that used to be used in coolant, electronics, sealants, adhesives, caulking, pesticides, carbon paper, and various other industrial uses. Production has been banned since the 1970s. It is especially dangerous because it is odorless and tasteless, and so stable that it hangs around a long time.
Clean water is always a concern for me. The EPA has set a limit of 0.0005 milligrams of PCBs per liter of drinking water (0.0005 mg/L). Unfortunately, industry released up to 1,300,000 pounds of PCBs into the Hudson river alone between approximately 1947 and 1977. It's seems that it is still there. And PCBs are bad for people.
PCB consumption is bad for pregnant and nursing woman, and harms the neonatal and natal immune system. It is linked to long term immune and autoimmune disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, dermatitis, bacterial infections, and various cancer.
If you want to know more about PCBs, you can contact the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine
1600 Clifton Road NE, Mailstop F-32
Atlanta, GA 30333
Phone: 1-800-CDC-INFO • 888-232-6348 (TTY)
FAX: 770-488-4178
Email: cdcinfo@cdc.gov
Currently, I am the President of the consulting firm, Brockovich Research & Consulting, where I am involved in numerous major environmental cases 
Comments
Hi Erin,
This information really makes you stop and think about what people are eating. Children have no say in it either, they just eat what their parents buy, based on advertisements and what seems to be a 'healthy' food. Regards jill x
Posted by: jill | February 2, 2008 8:53 PM
The accumulating pollutants are insidious because they are so "quiet" -- we need to know where they are. Are there any maps of where chemicals such a PCBs were released into the environment? Thank you for your informative posts. Carolyn, California Green Solutions
Posted by: Carolyn Allen | February 6, 2008 8:25 AM
To: Erin Brockovich,
I believe the PCB problem is just beginning... and will have a greater impact on human health sooner than global warming... we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in children with autism and learning disorders caused by environmental neuro-toxic PCB exposure...
We must keep the plastic out of the Oceans to reduce the damage that will be done to all life on Earth if we do nothing... First we must raise awareness of the severity of this ecological disaster... that started over 50 years ago... and still most of the voters are unaware...
Politicians appear to have their hands tied... so to speak... scratching their heads... while life on Earth becomes impaired... from the tiny honey bees ... to giant whales and coral reefs worldwide...
We need the action of a grass-roots effort to bring this issue to the surface... to create a critical mass of voters who will make a significant difference in the lives of millions of children worldwide.
Larry --in Key Largo
the project
---------------
http://EcoDelMar.org/ocean
the research linking PCB to Autism
-----------------------------------
http://EcoDelMar.org/pcb
Posted by: larry --in key largo | June 6, 2009 12:32 PM
Hi Erin;
I find this whole PCB contamination very interesting. It's amazing how we continously destroy our environment. Not only are we destroying our environment however, we poison our food sources and then wonder why we have children with ADD, ADHD, Autism, Asthma, etc.
I lived in an area of NY that had PCB contamination in the Hudson River. They dredged years ago, and now they are dredging up river. It has become quite the controversy, however, I personally believe that the PCB's have been making people sick for generations silently. I have a Thyroid condition and 5 other people on the same street that I lived on growing up also have a Thyroid condition. Coincidence?
In my reading PCB's have been known to cause Endrocrine System problems, and other various conditions.
PCB's are just the tip of the iceberg. There is mercury coming out of a plant about 15-20 miles south of Albany, right across the street from a Middle & High School. There are other various plants that are along the Hudson also in these communities that I am certain poison our area and cause the high incidence of Autism and other conditions.
Sad thing is, I think that the EPA knew about all this the whole time and did nothing. I think the Federal Government's plans were to get rid of all the farms in the areas with the most pollution. Remember when our country was stopping farms from existing in the 80's. Hmm...
Posted by: Licia | July 27, 2009 5:05 AM
worked at pa transformer,you dont want to eat the fish in that water,believe me.i used to work in the maintenance dept.
Posted by: p.pirillo | February 8, 2010 9:23 AM