Recent Advisory News

• EPA and FDA issued federal advisories in January 2001. For more information about the EPA and FDA advisories, follow the links from the NLFWA federal advisory page. Numerous national and local newspapers and magazines carried stories about the release of the federal advisories, including U.S. News & World Report and The Washington Post.

• A new statewide advisory for all fish in Pennsylvania was issued in April. The advisory is based on the national recommendation from EPA for women who are or may become pregnant, nursing mothers, and children, although the advisory also states that the general population may want to follow the statewide advice as well. The advisory was issued for all contaminants, although the press has referred to it as a mercury advisory. Read more about this advisory at Pennsylvania's fish advisory web site. In addition, the Philadelphia Inquirer carried a story about the release of the advisory on April 22, entitled "PA. Fish Advisory Raises Questions."

• A new commercial advisory in Washington resembles the FDA commercial advice released in January of this year, although tuna is also included in Washington's advisory. The advisory is for women of childbearing age and children under 6, and recommends that they not eat shark, swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel or fresh caught or frozen tuna steaks. The Washington advisory also recommends that women of childbearing age and children limit the amount of canned tuna they eat, based on bodyweight. More information is available at the Washington Department of Health.

• Wisconsin updated statewide advice for mercury with advice for women of childbearing age, nursing mothers, and children under 15, and seperate advice for women beyond childbearing years and men. This mercury advisory supercedes the advisories for individual waterbodies in the state (unless those advisories are more restrictive). Also, the advisory does not affect waters where PCBs are the predominant contaminant. The state reports that the changes in mercury advice result from the National Research Council's report, "Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury" issued last year. The advisory will be further updated by the state over the summer. More information is available at Wisconsin's fish advisory web site.

Current Events, News and Journal Articles

• Building Consensus on the Savannah River - A group of researchers published an article in the journal Environmental Management in April describing the development of a fish fact sheet for the Savannah River in Georgia and South Carolina, where at the time of the study only one of the states had issued a fish advisory. The authors (J. Burger et al.) describe the process of how they gathered information from fishers, worked with a number of state and federal regulatory agencies, and built consensus on this issue while using good science as the basis to reach an agreement about regulatory response.

  Source: J. Burger, M. Gochfeld, C.W. Powers, L. Waishwell, C. Warren, B.D. Goldstein. 2001. Science, policy, stakeholders, and fish consumption advisories: developing a fish fact sheet for the Savannah River. Environmental Management 27(4) p.501-514.

• Predicting Mercury Levels in the Southeast - A paper published in Environmental Science & Technology in March describes a statistical model to predict mercury concentrations in fish tissue in the southeast. The authors (S. Qian et al.) considered many factors in their search for important predictor variables, including factors affecting the accumulation, movement, and transformation of mercury, the location of mercury sources, and fish species and weight. The model was developed for four southeastern states, and the authors found that south central Arkansas and southeast Mississippi showed high levels of mercury in fish tissue based on the model.

  Source: S. Qian, W. Warren-Hicks, J. Keating, D. Moore, T.R. Scott. 2001. A predictive model of mercury fish tissue concentrations for the southeastern United States. Environmental Science & Technology 35(5) p.941-947.

• A Reanalysis of the Seychelles Child Development Study, Outcomes at 66 Months - The authors of the original Seychelles study reanalyzed their results in response to recommendations made by the National Academy of Sciences. The original study analyzed the effects of prenatal and postnatal methylmercury exposure on the neurodevelopment of children (age 5.5). The reanalysis confirmed the findings and associations of the previous study. The authors state that these results "continue to suggest beneficial effects with increasing mercury levels that may reflect dietary benefits of fish consumption." They found no evidence of adverse effects in a population exposed to methylmercury via consumption of ocean fish. Link directly to the article at the Journal of the Americal Medical Association website.

  Source: P.W. Davidson, J. Kost, G.J. Myers, C. Cox, T.W. Clarkson, C.F. Shamlaye. 2001. Methylmercury and neurodevelopment: reanalysis of the Seychelles Child Development Study outcomes at 66 months of age. JAMA 285(10) p.1291-1293.

• Organochlorines Decrease, Heavy Metals Increase in NJ Ospreys and Fish Prey - Ospreys are good sentinels of the health of estuarine areas because they feed almost exclusively on fish and other aquatic biota. The authors repeated sampling of osprey egg and prey samples initially conducted in 1989 to evaluate the trends of contaminants in the last decade. Most organochlorine contaminants declined in osprey eggs in 1998 as compared to 1989. In contrast, lead in eggs increased and mercury averaged 0.12 ppm and increased only in Atlantic Coast eggs. These contaminant changes were also seen in typical prey fish. This study reports significant improvements in organochlorine contaminants in southern New Jersey ospreys, but recommends continued monitoring of heavy metals such as lead and mercury in aquatic ecosystems.

  Source: K.E. Clark, W. Stansley, and L.J. Niles. 2001. Changes in contaminant levels in New Jersey Osprey eggs and prey, 1989 to 1998. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 40 (2) p.277-284.

• Changes in PCB levels in Michigan Anglers, from 1973 to 1993 - Data from three mixed cross-sectional/longitudinal surveys conducted by the Michigan Department of Health of Michigan anglers in 1973-74, 1979-1982, and 1989-1993 were examined to determine whether associations existed between sport-caught fish consumption and serum PCB levels. The fish consumption for the three groups declined over the three surveys. Aroclor 1260 levels were 2-3 times higher in fish eaters than in non-fish eaters in all three surveys for both men and women. In non-fish eaters, serum PCB levels rose between 1973-74 and 1979-1982 and then declined between 1979-1982 and 1989-1993. Among fish eaters, serum PCB levels rose between 1973-74 and 1979-1982, but were unchanged between 1979-1982 and 1989-1993. The authors concluded that among consumers of sport-caught Great Lakes fish, serum PCB levels did not significantly decline, probably due to continued exposure and the long half-life of PCBs.

  Source: He Jian-Ping, A.D. Stein, H.E.B. Humphrey, Nigel, P. and J.M. Courval. 2001. Time trends in sport-caught Great Lakes fish consumption and serum polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) levels among Michigan anglers. Environmental Science and Technology 35 (3): 435-440.

• New York Times article on FDA advisory - On May 9th the New York Times published an article highlighting the FDA federal advisory for some commercial fish species. The article discusses the difference between FDA's advice and the stricter standards recommended by the National Academy of Sciences. The FDA uses an exposure level that is 4 times greater than the level that EPA uses and that the NAS report recommends for pregnant women and children. Find the article online at The New York Times.

  Source: Burros, Marion. FDA Cautions Against Eating Certain Fish During Pregnancy. New York Times, May 9, 2001.

• Researchers Develop Test for Mercury in Fish - Soon you may be able to find out the level of mercury in a fish by simply testing a single scale. A report published in April in the journal Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry details the new screening method, which is easy, fast, and inexpensive. The test will cause a solution to change color if 50% or more of the FDA level of mercury (0.5 ppm) is present in the fish. Environmentalists have pointed out that a lower detection limit is needed if this test is to meet EPA guidance and protect sensitive populations such as pregnant women and children. Link directly to the article.

  Source: Higgins, Margot. Screen test: detecting mercury in seafood. Environmental News Network, www.enn.com May 4, 2001.

• Early Human Diet Rich in Fish and Seafood, Study Shows. - Early humans, even those who lived inland, obtained from 10% to 50% of their protein from fish and other marine foods, according to scientists who studied 20,000-year-old human bones. The study, led by Erik Trinkaus of Washington University, compared carbon 13 and nitrogen 15 isotopes from early human and neanderthal bones, and found that the early humans bore the chemical signature of a diet rich in fish, while the neanderthal bones indicated a diet almost exclusively dependent on red meat. Some researchers believe the findings of this study support the theory that early humans obtained increased brainpower from a diet rich in the fatty acid DHA (present at high levels in seafood), which has been shown to enhance brain development.

  Source: Recer, Paul. Fish was a major part of diet for early humans, study shows. Associated Press, May 21, 2001.

• Consumer Reports - Risks and Benefits of Eating Fish - The April issue of Consumer Reports on Health contained an article on weighing the health risks and benefits of consuming fish. The article reports the recent FDA advice, and in addition recommends that vulnerable groups limit tuna consumption.

  Source: Consumer Reports on Health. April 2001. Fish: Weighing the risks and benefits. Vol. 13(4).

Meetings and Conferences

For More Information

For more information on EPA's Fish and Wildlife Contamination Program, contact: Jeffrey Bigler at US EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW (4305), Washington, DC 20460; email: bigler.jeff@epa.gov.

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Revised May, 2001