News Coverage
Bay fish still contaminated, study finds
Survey finds pollutants banned in the 70s still routinely exceed health guidelines
Published July 23, 2003
Fish in the San Francisco Bay still routinely exceed health guidelines for a slew of chemical pollutants, including PCBs, mercury, dioxin and pesticides, according to a study released Wednesday.
Some pollutants, such as chlorinated pesticides, are down. Some are up, most notably chemical flame retardants increasingly found in seat cushions and computers. But most are unchanged from earlier studies, and that's bad news for anyone eating these fish regularly, health officials say.
More alarming is that many of the chemicals -- such as PCBs -- contaminating fish today were banned 30 years ago, and that the flame retardants on the rise exhibit a tendency to linger just as long.
"They're persistent, nasty toxicants," said Gina Solomon, a medical doctor and senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "It's a good example of why we need to use the precautionary principal...
"If it's persistent and it bioaccumulates and it's a pollutant in our Bay, we should take dramatic steps to reduce the pollution to save our children's children from these headaches."
The long-term monitoring project, conducted jointly by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the San Francisco Estuary Institute, annually tests seven common species of fish at various spots in the Bay. This is the survey's ninth year.
The results show that chlorinated pesticides such as DDT and chlordane, both banned in the 1970s, have gradually declined in fish samples. Levels of PCBs -- also banned in the '70s -- mercury, selenium and dioxins have remained unchanged.
A new class of chemicals similar to PCBs called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, have jumped, according to the report. Used as a fire retardant, the two most common PBDEs would be banned in California in 2008 under a measure headed for the governor's desk.
By then 365 million more pounds will be released in California, according to the Environmental Working Group, and the Bay could be stuck with a legacy.
"What's been striking about the whole system is how slowly (the Bay) responds to any management action you want to take," said Mike Connor, executive director of the San Francisco Estuary Institute.
Most of the Bay's contaminants are in the mud, he added. And the Bay has a lot of mud. "There's a huge reservoir so it takes a long, long time -- on the order of 100 years -- to cleanse that reservoir.
Indeed, regional water regulators have recently proposed a cleanup plan for mercury that proposes 120 years to return the Bay to a healthy, active state.
Meanwhile, anglers continue to catch and eat fish. Since 1994, a state health advisory has warned most adults not to eat more than two meals of Bay-caught fish per month, less for small children or nursing or pregnant women.
No Bay fish are sold in retail markets, and the only fishery -- for herring roe -- is exported overseas, according to the state.
Various surveys have found most anglers abide by state health guidelines, but there are gaps.
A 1998 census by the Asian Pacific Environmental Network found less than half of the Laotians fishing in the Bay had heard of the state health warning. And a 2001 survey of 1,300 anglers by the estuary institute found 39 percent did not know they should limit their consumption, with Asians and African Americans at the greatest risk for chemical exposure.