Kansas Issues New Fish Consumption Advisories

Updated Guidelines include Mercury, PCBs, Perchlorate

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) are issuing fish consumption advisories for 2006. This is an annual process. Fish consumption advisories are simply guidelines for the public to make informed choices about their health and diet. The advisories identify species of fish that should be eaten in limited quantities, or in some cases, avoided altogether because of contamination found in tested fish.

The advisories include guidelines for mercury and PCBs in fish, perchlorate in fish and other aquatic life, and lead and cadmium in shellfish. Chlordane, which was responsible for the first Kansas fish consumption advisories nearly two decades ago, no longer poses unacceptable risk, although it is sometimes still detected. The advisory involving chlordane (Antioch Park Lake in Overland Park/Merriam in Johnson County) has been dropped. Trend data from most Kansas long-term monitoring sites show a decrease in the major contaminants involved in this advisory: mercury and PCBs. PCBs have not been in use in the U.S. since the 1970's and chlordane use was discontinued in 1988. Chlordane levels have declined dramatically statewide and PCB levels are expected to follow. PCBs and chlordane degrade slowly, so it takes decades for them to be completely removed from the environment, even after use is discontinued.

The advisories assess cancer risk levels using EPA methods. Cancer risk assessment is a method to determine the added increase in cancer levels in a population if fish in the advisory areas are consumed regularly over a 70-year period. Assessments that estimate the increased risk of cancer as greater than one in 100,000 are determined to be unacceptably high-risk levels. Risk assessments for contaminants assessed as non-carcinogens (mercury, lead and cadmium) were based on 8-ounce meal size for adults and 4-ounce meal size for children 9 to 18 years of age.

Kansas recommends not eating specified fish or aquatic life from the following locations for the reasons stated:

1. The Kansas River from Lawrence (below Bowersock Dam) downstream to Eudora at the confluence of the Wakarusa River for bottom-feeding fish* because of PCB levels;
2. Horseshoe Lake located in units 22 and 23 of the Mined Lands Wildlife Area (Cherokee County) for all forms of aquatic life in addition to all fish because of perchlorate levels;
3. The Spring River from the confluence of Center Creek to the Kansas/Oklahoma border (Cherokee County) for shellfish (mussels, clams, and crayfish) because of lead and cadmium levels;
4. Shoal Creek from the Missouri/Kansas border to Empire Lake (Cherokee County for shellfish because of lead and cadmium levels.

*Bottom-feeding fish include: carp, blue catfish, channel catfish, flathead catfish, freshwater drum, bullheads, sturgeons, buffalos, carpsuckers and other sucker species.

In addition, Kansas recommends a limit of one 8-ounce serving per month, or twelve 8-ounce meals per year, on the consumption of bottom-feeding fish from the following locations due to PCBs:

1. The Arkansas River from the Lincoln St. dam in Wichita downstream to the confluence with Cowskin Creek near Belle Plaine (Sedgwick and Sumner counties)
2. Cow Creek in Hutchinson and downstream to the confluence with the Arkansas River (Reno County)

Due to the average levels of mercury, Kansas recommend a limit of one 8-ounce serving per week for adults or one 4-ounce meal per week for children 12 years of age or younger of any species of fish from the following locations:

1. The Little Arkansas River from the Main Street Bridge immediately west of Valley Center to the confluence with the Arkansas River in Wichita (Sedgwick County).
2. The main stem of the Blue River from U.S. 69 Highway to the Kansas / Missouri state line (Johnson County).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a national fish consumption advisory for mercury which recommends consuming no more than one 8-ounce meal per week of non-commercial (locally caught) fish. EPA bases this on nationwide average mercury levels in various species of fish, and recommends first consideration be given to local advisories. KDHE and KDWP do not believe the EPA mercury advisory should apply to Kansas fish based on recently collected state data. While Kansas officials believe mercury levels in Kansas fish are safe for the general population, women who are pregnant or breast feeding should avoid eating large-sized predatory fish such as largemouth bass or consult their physician. Additional testing for contaminants in fish and other aquatic life will continue.

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