Fish risk warnings fall short, U.S. says

Source: The Detroit News
Michigan health warnings for eating Great Lakes fish are inadequate to ensure public safety, and are out of step with surrounding states, according to federal environmental officials.

Concern about PCBs, mercury, pesticides and other chemicals known to cause cancers and birth defects has spurred six Great Lakes states to coordinate their warnings for consuming salmon, lake trout and other species.

But in a dispute at least five years old, Michigan hasn't signed on; it issues its own fish advisories.

Today, Michigan anglers meeting an April 1 renewal date for fishing licenses will receive a 53-page booklet marking high-risk fish in lakes, rivers and watersheds across the state.

In an approach riling environmental groups, Michigan's guide stresses health benefits from eating fish before explaining chemical dangers from consuming them.

"Only Michigan and New York are still not providing a high level of health protection for male anglers," said J. Milton Clark of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regional office in Chicago.

Warnings for men are separate from those issued for women and children, who are considered especially vulnerable to contaminants. In many cases, fish rated edible for men are prohibited for children and women.

"There are inconsistencies in the standards. Some chemicals aren't even looked at," said Cheryl Mendoza of the Lake Michigan Federation in Muskegon.

"There may be chemical risks in the lakes that we aren't yet aware of."

Michigan health officials counter that fish advisories are based on sound science and reflect a trend toward cleaner waters system-wide.

But as Great Lakes waters enter a third year of record declines, increased dredging could be reviving toxic chemicals long buried in bottom sediments - although health experts say proof has yet to appear in fish.

"Certainly, we look at the data every year and base our advisories on the best information," said Dr. David Wade of the Michigan Department of Community Health, which tests fish and publishes the anglers' advisory guide.

"We don't have any indication that dredging is raising levels of contaminants, but we can't say that conclusively," Wade said.

For 2001, Michigan's guide warns men, women and children against eating any Lake Erie carp and catfish, and whitefish more than 22 inches in length. The guide cites dangers from PCBs, the industrial chemicals also known as polychlorinated biphenyls, and from dioxins.

Lake St. Clair is faring better today than in the 1970s, when fish had extremely high mercury levels: Warnings limit consumption of bluegills, bass and walleye. Surprising to some anglers, the state guide does not mention yellow perch, pursued by ice-fishermen throughout winter months.

"It's a very confusing guide," said Dan Chimelak, owner of Lakeside Fishing Shop in St. Clair Shores. He hands out a fish advisory with every license sold.

"Very few people bother to read it. They don't even list some species."

    Diners beware
On Lake Huron, state warnings remain for men eating lake trout larger than 22 inches; women and children are advised not to eat lake trout larger than 10 inches. Warnings against eating larger Huron whitefish stand for the entire public.

Lake Superior health warnings exist for lake trout longer than 18 inches, for women and children. Test results for mercury, chlordane, PCBs and dioxin are high enough in ciscowet -- a fish also called cisco -- that are 18 inches or longer to rate no-consumption warnings for men, women and children.

In all four Great Lakes touching Michigan, as well as in inland streams and lakes, state warnings limit numbers of meals by week, month or year.

EPA officials have proposed that Michigan extend warnings in effect for women and children so they apply to everyone.

Last July, the International Joint Commission, a Canadian-American authority in charge of waters between the nations, criticized health warnings across the Great Lakes basin as being too timid. "Current standards are not protective enough," said Doug Alley, a commission scientist.

"Methods of sampling are different and so is the lab analysis. It boils down to no great consistency between the states and Canadian provinces."

    Debate to continue
   Debate over how much contamination is safe will likely continue, although other federal scientists do register distant hope.

A monumental study of Great Lakes trout is expected to conclude this year, after three decades and analysis of more than 7,000 fish. Scientists consider lake trout an indicator for the larger environment because it's a predator that sits at the top of the aquatic food chain.

Although the U.S. Geological Survey study is yet to be published, researchers in Ann Arbor believe chemical contamination has been declining.

In time, falling levels would affect fish advisories, and scientists guardedly say results are promising.

"Contamination may possibly be leveling off," said James P. Hickey, a chemist at work on the study. "Some pesticides are actually showing signs of disappearing," he said.

"Nature has a remarkable way of cleaning itself, once we stop dumping stuff in."
Source: Detroit News