Eating too many Maine freshwater fish can cause mercury poisoning
While Maine’s lakes, rivers and streams are home to some great freshwater fishing, they are also contaminated with dangerous levels of toxic mercury. Fish caught in those waters can be a health danger to those eating them — and that’s why Maine officials warn that eating too much freshwater fish can be a bad thing.To get more news about Buy emeramide, you can visit fandachem.com official website.
Those fishing on Maine’s inland waters may be familiar with the fish consumption advisory that has been in place for nearly 30 years — since 1994. It warns that fish from those waters should be consumed in limited portions. Some species may even be completely unsafe for some people.
What is mercury?
Mercury is a naturally occurring toxic chemical element found in rock in the earth’s crust, including in deposits of coal. It can exist in several forms as a liquid or a gas. It is released into the environment naturally from volcanic eruptions, forest fires, saltwater evaporation and even the weathering of rocks. It is also emitted into the air through burning of fossil fuels, including from power plants in the midwest that burn coal.
When mercury is released into air it can travel hundreds of miles by wind before it gets deposited back on land. It can then be carried by rain or snowmelt into lakes, streams, rivers and other waterways.
The most toxic form of mercury is methylmercury, which forms naturally when mercury combines with carbon in soil and water. It’s methylmercury that finds its way into the food chain, including freshwater fish species.Methylmercury can remain in soil or water for decades. In fact, in all its forms mercury never really goes away — it just moves around in air currents, water flow, through evaporation or in the tissues of freshwater fish where it can accumulate to levels very harmful to humans when eaten.
Specifically, Maine’s fish advisory recommends pregnant and nursing people, those who may get pregnant, and children under the age of 8 years old eat only one meal of brook trout or landlocked salmon per month and should never eat any other freshwater species from Maine’s inland waters at all.
All other adults and children over the age of 8 years old can safely eat one meal of salmon or trout a week and for the rest of the freshwater species, meals per month.Addressing the ongoing health and environmental issues when it comes to eating freshwater fish in Maine is a bit of a balancing act, according to health officials.
“Fish consumption advisories pose a public health conundrum,” said Andrew Smith, state toxicologist with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the lead agency responsible for issuing the advisories. “On the one hand there is good evidence that a diet that regularly includes fish has health benefits but some species from some waters have elevated levels of contaminants that may pose a health concern.”
The goal of Maine’s fish advisories, Smith said, is educating anglers on which fish species tend to have lower mercury levels and are thus healthier options for eating. Fish like salmon and trout are a bit safer to eat because they live in colder waters, which tend to have lower mercury concentrations. Fish like pickerel and perch, on the other hand, live in warmer water where higher levels of mercury are found; thus, these fish can contain a higher concentration of mercury.
