mercury is an important mineral right? i'm sure we'll hear that spin soon

[Guest guest]

WASHINGTON - More than one-fourth of the nation's lakes have advisories warning

consumers that fresh-caught fish may be contaminated with mercury, dioxins or

other chemicals, the Environmental Protection Agency said yesterday.

 

 

The EPA said state regulators issued 2,618 fishing advisories or bans in 2001

because of contaminants.

Eating fish that contain high concentrations of mercury, dioxins, PCBs and other

industrial chemicals can be especially harmful to pregnant women and children,

according to the EPA.

 

In 2001, the state advisories covered 28 percent of the nation's total lake

acreage, up from 26 percent in 2000, the EPA said.

 

Some 14 percent of U.S. rivers were covered by advisories in 2001, up from 10.5

percent in the previous year.

 

States that had the most fishing advisories include Massachusetts, Wisconsin,

Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Nebraska and New Jersey.

 

Some of the affected waterways include Lake Champlain, Florida's Sarasota Bay,

Washington's Puget Sound, and the Potomac River which feeds into Maryland's

Chesapeake Bay, the EPA said.

 

State regulators have several options when contaminated fish are found in a

waterway or lake, depending on the chemical and amount. The states can ban

eating all fish from a certain area, advise pregnant women to avoid eating a

specific kind of fish, or urge consumers to eat smaller amounts of fish caught

in a particular section of a waterway.

 

Details about state fishing advisories were posted by the EPA on its Internet

site at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/fish/.

 

 

 

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

[Guest guest]

Fraggle

 

We have similar problems here. The fish caught off Sellafield are more

dangerous than originally thought. Apparently there is four-times the

amount of radioactive waste in them than had been thought.

 

Jo

 

 

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