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| DON'T EAT THE FISH: PCBs IN RARITAN BAY
DON'T EAT THE FISH: PCBs IN RARITAN BAY Recently, both t he NJ Department of Environmental Protection and the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services issued a warning that once again proves our local bay waters are still contaminated and tainted from decades of industrial development and mismanagement. New fish consumption advisories are in effect now for Winter Flounder caught in Raritan Bay and Hudson River/Upper New York Bay waters. The state is advising people to limit how much Winter Flounder you eat to just one meal per month. This new advisory is in addition to the already existing state fish consumption advisories for Bluefish and Striped Bass. All three fish are important characteristic species of the Bayshore region. The cause for this advisory is due to high levels of a group of chemicals called polychlorinated biphenyls or better know as simply “PCBs.” Between 1946 and 1977, General Electric dumped an estimated 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson River. PCBs have been flowing down the Hudson River to Raritan Bay. “It is a devastating blow,” said Cindy Zipf, Executive Director of Clean Ocean Action (COA). “By now, our waters should be clean enough to take species off the list—not add them. It is imperative that efforts to reduce sources of pollution are improved and that we get tough against polluters.” (U.S. Rep Frank Pallone with a number of environmentalists in Union Beach to call on General Electric to remove 2.65 million tons of PCB-contaminated mud from hotspots in a 40-mile stretch of the Hudson River. Photo taken by Kari Jermansen.) “ New Jersey fishermen and consumers are paying the price for GE's tragic legacy of pollution in the Hudson River,” said U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. “GE has dragged its feet too long -- and the EPA has let them get away with it. It’s time for the delays and unneeded discussions to end and for GE to get the cleanup job done once and for all. Our children shouldn’t have to grow up hearing that there are still fish consumption advisories because of contamination like this,” he added. The spread of PCBs throughout the Hudson River-Raritan Bay ecosystem has resulted in one of the greatest threats to human health. Levels of PCBs in winter flounder and other fish are up to three times the action level for high-risk populations, defined as infants, children, pregnant and nursing women, and women of childbearing age. The data prompting New Jersey to establish the Winter Flounder advisory have significant implications for many other fish in the region. Originally, studies showed that fish with lower fat levels, such as Winter Flounder, do not accumulate PCBs at concentrations high enough to require consumption advisories. Now, PCB concentrations may be too high in many other fish. (The cleanup of PCBs is essential to the health of all marine life including this baby Winter Flounder and the residents of the Bayshore. Photo taken by author at Woods Hole Aquarium, MA) The terrible fear I have now is that local people will not take these fish consumption advisories seriously. They will ignore the reality and continue to catch and eat fish that have been poisoned with PCBs from General Electric. Fish that contain PCBs look and tastes the same as healthy fish. Not a single resident of the bay will notice a thing by simply looking at a fish. Yet, the dangers are real. The International Agency for Research on Cancer and the Environmental Protection Agency classifies PCBs as a probable human carcinogen, and the National Toxicology Program has concluded that PCBs are reasonably likely to cause cancer in humans. Studies of PCBs in humans have found increased rates of liver cancer, gall bladder cancer, gastrointestinal tract cancer, and brain cancer, and may be linked to breast cancer. PCBs are known to cause a variety of types of cancer in rats, mice, and other study animals. Exposure of one form of PCB in rats also resulted in retarded growth, delayed puberty, decreased sperm counts, and genital malformations. In other studies, exposure of PCBs to rats led to behavioral effects that lasted into adulthood. According to Clearwater, a New York non-profit environmental group, women exposed to PCBs before or during pregnancy can give birth to children with significant neurological and motor control problems, including lowered IQ and poor short-term memory. A group of children in Michigan whose mothers had been exposed to PCBs were found to have decreased birth weight, lowered performance on standardized memory and behavioral tests, and lowered IQ. Another study of children from women who ate contaminated Lake Ontario fish, also found significant performance impairments on a standardized behavioral assessment test. The most common route of exposure to PCBs in humans is from eating contaminated fish. We now need to urge our political leaders in Washington, Trenton, and Albany, to hold federal agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and GE firm to the current cleanup start date of autumn 2007. According to the US EPA, the original cleanup start date was 2005, but after several delays, GE has recently announced that the start date may not begin until spring 2008. This proposed date by GE is too lengthy. We also need to also urge Governor Corzine for additional monitoring of fish contamination in all New Jersey bay and ocean waters to protect public health and the marine environment. This monitoring needs to be funded by GE and enforcement actions be taken against GE where fish consumption advisories exist to make polluters pay and to ensure swift cleanups. For more information, Check out these websites: Clean Ocean Action: http://www.cleanoceanaction.org/ NJDEP/ Division of Fish & Wildlife: http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ Clearwater : http://www.clearwater.org/ | ||||||||
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