PCBs, Mercury and Worms Oh MY!

Whole continents eat fish as a major staple of their diet and and many of them eat fish which are considered to be "high risk" for mercury levels. If it was as bad as some people, companies, organizations etc. made it out to be we'd have an epidemic coming from those places. I personally haven't heard of problems like that. Still, eat fish from a spot where a company is dumping bad stuff and sure you'd croak.

Curious so did a quick search "mercury poisoning from eating fish" and got some really contrasting opinions. I thought these were funny.
WebMD's take on it: "For most people, the level of mercury absorbed by eating fish and shellfish is not a health concern. Overall, fish and shellfish are healthy foods."
Peta's take on it: "If you eat fish, your body will absorb mercury from the fish's flesh, and the accumulation of this toxin can lead to serious health problems."

Web MD's article: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/tc/avoiding-mercury-in-fish-topic-overview
PETA's article: http://www.peta.org/living/vegetarian-living/mercury-in-fish.aspx

Z

I'm sure if we dug further into PETA's thoughts, we'd find all kinds of silly dangerous things about eating chicken, cow, pig, rabbits, etc just to lean a guy towards going "veggy".   
Those folks over there are nutz! 

my concern is more the build up of small amounts of toxins in my body over time. I may not be able to pinpoint a single fish as making me sick, but over the long run, it all ads up. just a personal thing.

Living in the city doesn't help at all either.

It is definitely an apples to oranges comparison.  I didn't say volcanoes produced more CO2 than mankind does either btw.  I only said we probably get more polution from volcanoes than we do from China (via the jet stream). 

Still though, is there anything out there showing someone actually died or got a cancer or any other ailment from PCBs or Mercury via fish consumption?  (particularly in the NW region)

Lee,
Love Canal, Erie Canal, Lake Erie. Penna. N.Y. & Ohio... late 1960's thru 1990's. Total Superfund sites that killed about 300 people over that period. mercury, pcb's,  lead, zinc, lots of heavy metals. ( thank Kodak & DOW Chem.)

"Down winders" in Nev. , Wyo, Neb, Colo, MT. N.D. S.D. Okla, from Trinity test site blasts. fact is many of those exposed are still slowly passing. (this last you can double check from in house at work. )

Currently there is a former strip mine out side the Leadville Colo area that is being studied by a husband and wife team. seems the ground water there is so toxic, it has mutated even the grasses around the site. 

Whole continents eat fish as a major staple of their diet and and many of them eat fish which are considered to be "high risk" for mercury levels. If it was as bad as some people, companies, organizations etc. made it out to be we'd have an epidemic coming from those places. I personally haven't heard of problems like that. Still, eat fish from a spot where a company is dumping bad stuff and sure you'd croak.

That's how I feel about it too, if it was REALLY dangerous, we'd hear about actual people dying, just like we hear about lung cancer from smoking or car crashes from texting.  But we don't.   BUT, at the same time, I'm not going to play russian roulette (sp?) and eat something from a high risk area. 

WR - Super Fund sites are a different ball game.  They have levels of harmful stuff that's WAY off the chart.

up to a point, true i guess. though, there are those out there who want to have Puget Sound listed as a SF site.

but if that's the kind of exposure it takes for toxicity to kill you, I'm probably not gonna worry too much.

right now, though, my worry is actually getting time to catch a fish,

my concern is more the build up of small amounts of toxins in my body over time. I may not be able to pinpoint a single fish as making me sick, but over the long run, it all ads up. just a personal thing.

Living in the city doesn't help at all either.

Bingo...  I eat a lot of fish 3-4 meals  a week of either salmon/bottomfish/hailbut/pnw tuna etc etc.  I have a physical scheduled in a couple months and I am going to request or insist if need be that they run the blood work or whatever to see what my mercury/lead/etc levels are, hell I'll even pay for it out of pocket.   You don't have go toes up and die for it to be considered to be negatively affecting your health.  I am very curious as to the results and they might change my fish consumption habits if they were to come up scary.

Bingo...  I eat a lot of fish 3-4 meals  a week of either salmon/bottomfish/hailbut/pnw tuna etc etc.  I have a physical scheduled in a couple months and I am going to request or insist if need be that they run the blood work or whatever to see what my mercury/lead/etc levels are, hell I'll even pay for it out of pocket.   

Probably not very much in your blood, that's why they say trim excess fat. The Dr. would probably need to take a tissue sample to get readings on heavy metals. A chunk off your ass maybe. :-}

Probably not very much in your blood, that's why they say trim excess fat. The Dr. would probably need to take a tissue sample to get readings on heavy metals. A chunk off your ass maybe. :-}

A blood test for lead is easy and quite reliable.  Back in the day when I was shooting and reloading a lot I had my lead blood levels tested every year. 

Mercury can be tested for in blood, urine, and hair.  Blood looks for methyl-mercury, urine for metallic mercury, and hair for past exposure (methyl-mercury).  You get methyl-mercury from eating fish.

Mercury poisoning is not something that keeps me up at night.

Interestingly, the mad dash to so-called eco-friendly fluorescent lighting such as "compact fluorescent bulbs" will bring vastly more mercury into our homes and land fills.  Fluorescent bulbs work by ionizing a vacuum tube filled with metallic mercury gas.   Fluorescent bulbs are "hazardous waste" and need to be recycled in accordance with hazardous waste regulations.

Interestingly, the mad dash to so-called eco-friendly fluorescent lighting such as "compact fluorescent bulbs" will bring vastly more mercury into our homes and land fills.  Fluorescent bulbs work by ionizing a vacuum tube filled with metallic mercury gas.   Fluorescent bulbs are "hazardous waste" and need to be recycled in accordance with hazardous waste regulations.

However,  Coal fired power plants, which produce a majority of the U.S. electricity,  are the largest human-caused source of mercury emissions to the air in the United States (perhaps the world when one considers China). This airborne mercury settles out and enters the food chain.  CFLs have about 4 mg of mercury per bulb.  Therefore, the total amount of mercury that could be released into the environment if one breaks, or is improperly disposed of,  is small compared to the amount of mercury that doesn't get released into the environment over the bulbs life time due to the lower consumption of electricity than that of an incandescent bulb.

As for the food, the Japanese consume large quantities of seafood and on average, live longer than us.  They do drink lots of tea and eat lots of foods that have antioxidant and chelating properties which may help them remove the heavy metals from their systems.  A Korean study found that the addition of cilantro to the diet removed the mercury deposits in the bodies of people with amalgam fillings.

There may be other side effects of too much mercury if you are young white ibis that intends to marry and have children.    

http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2010-12-01/story/uf-study-mercury-turned-birds-gay

From concrete monthly:

Known as the nation's largest producer of airborne mercury, the Durkee plant will continue with the installation of a $20 million emission control system designed to lower mercury emissions by at least 75 percent, despite the layoffs.
http://www.concretemonthly.com/monthly/art.php?3605

They're installing controls, but have been cranking out 900,000 tons of concrete a year with 2,500 pounds of byproduct mercury/year since their expansion in 1996. Probably less in their smaller days from 1977 to 1995. The EPA fines Ash Grove $250 per day for not meeting the 85% reduction and $1000 per day for not meeting the 75% reduction.

That's why Owyhee Res. is catch and release only. If their production continued unchecked, someday the FDA would say OR & ID potatoes & livestock are no longer edible.

PGE coal fired plant at Boardman cranks out 750 lbs/year, but it's a pretty small plant compared with most in the midwest.

CFLs have about 4 mg of mercury per bulb.  Therefore, the total amount of mercury that could be released into the environment if one breaks, or is improperly disposed of,  is small compared to the amount of mercury that doesn't get released into the environment over the bulbs life time due to the lower consumption of electricity than that of an incandescent bulb.

However, when you break a CFL in your home, the entire 4mg is on the floor in your living room.

To believe your last statement one must believe the statistics on CFL longevity and powerplant Hg release.  One must also believe that the much more resource intensive, complex, and energy intensive manufacturing process plays no role in the CFL's total life cycle energy balance.  Remember too, a dead incandescent bulb you toss in the trash, a CFL needs more energy at the end of its life to deal with the hazardous waste issue.

The 4 CFLs I use for my outdoor lighting (on 24/7) which are under cover and protected from the elements seem to last just as long as the incandescent bulbs they replaced.   I will not use them in my house, not because I am paranoid of a little mercury, but because they suck as a light source - harsh, dim, they need to warm up to brighten up, and they dim over time. 

The entire CFL issue is another eco-myth.  At best a debatable improvement in energy usage, a huge hassle for consumers forced into an inferior and hazardous product, and a HUGE boon to General Electric. 

Always, when government is involved, follow the money.  Just look at the ethanol boondoggle.

I have a CFL light bulb on the porch (and a few other places) but I have to replace that thing all the time.  It's pretty annoying, and I've never (or at least don't recall) seen anything from TPU telling me not ot put CFLs in the regular garbage.

I am a believer in CFL's......Costco has the best deal and now, Home Depot has reliable, low cost  units too.
I date the CFL so I know how long they are in use...typically over 7000 hours as compared to 1500 hours for an incandescent  bulb.
My garage exterior lights are 13 watt CFL's and are sequenced dusk to dawn by my Intermatic, self adjusting wall timer switch...model ST101.....this thing automatically adjusts for daylight saving and as dusk and dawn time changes over the calendar year....a really good timer.

I recycle batteries and CFL's locally, for free at our garbage/trash yard.....the service is available twice a month.
CFL's more than pay for themselves and reduce energy use too.....today, they are far superior to units available in the past 5 years and the cost has fallen dramatically....from $6.00 to less than $1.60 for the 13 watt unit.

I was surprised to read this week that China is now a leader in "green", they are building their new coal-fired plants to high standards, and are replacing tens of milions of incandescents with CFL's----that's the advantage of a dictatorship, just say "let it be so"  and the people jump to comply.,.,,

they also get to kill corporate a-holes who sell tainted baby formula.

there are some advantages i guess.