Fish Taken From 66 Illinois Lakes & Rivers Exceed EPA Mercury LImits

[hatrack]

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The report, titled "Risky Fishing: Power Plant Mercury Pollution and Illinois Sports Fish," found that in 66 of 145 lakes, rivers and streams in Illinois that were studied, the average mercury concentrations exceeded the U.S. EPA's safe limit of .13 parts per million for women of average weight who eat fish twice a week.

Some local waterways making the list of 66 were the McKinley Park, Sherman Park, Marquette Park, Humbodlt Park and Skokie lagoons, the Midlothian Reservoir, Arrowhead Lake and Sedgwick Lake in Cook County; Channel Lake in Lake County; and Lake in the Hills in McHenry County. Lake Michigan also had average mercury concentrations in fish samples above the EPA standards, the report found.

Max Mueller, the report's author and an environmental advocate for Environment Illinois, the environmental arm of Illinois PIRG, said the report also found that 39 percent of fish samples caught in the state exceeded the EPA safe mercury limit for women, and the average mercury concentration exceeded the safe limit in half of the 32 fish species included in the studies.

Fish species found to have the highest average mercury concentrations were bigmouth buffalo, freshwater drum, striped bass, lake trout, spotted bass, sauger, smallmouth buffalo, spotted sucker, flathead catfish, largemouth bass, brown trout, Chinook salmon, white bass, channel catfish, carp and white sucker. "Mercury pollution is endangering this important dietary staple and we think that's a serious public health problem," Mueller said. He noted that the American Heart Association and Food and Drug Administration recommend eating fish as part of a healthy diet.

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http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-story/localnews/current/wh/08-17-06-968119.html

[hunter]

1. Coal fired power plants are the biggest source of this mercury.

Power company executives deny that, and they don't believe global warming is a problem either.

Mueller said mercury poisoning is of greatest concern for women of child bearing age, unborn fetuses and children under the age of six who are in the early stages of development. It can lead to neurological problems, developmental delays, impaired motor skills and low IQ levels, he said.

This is bad stuff that is happening now, not hypothetical stuff that might happen.