A recent study from the Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy group that tracks PFAS, found that eating one serving of freshwater fish can be the same as drinking water contaminated with high levels of PFAS for a month. This is a disturbing realization, particularly for low-income, rural, and Indigenous populations who rely on subsistence fishing. Fish is still a staple in many cultures' cuisines and a good source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids in general.
According to David Andrews, an EWG researcher and study co-author, "PFAS in freshwater fish is at such a concentration that for anyone consuming, even infrequently, it would likely be their major source of exposure over the course of the year."
Because PFAS bioaccumulate up the food chain similarly to mercury, larger fish—like largemouth bass—generally have higher chemical concentrations than smaller fish. Maine has a higher mercury prevalence, but Kopec noted that the amounts of PFAS close to pollution sources are alarmingly high.
"FISHING IS A SOCIETY."
Fishermen are informed about consumption advisories and associated health effects by the Ecology Center, an environmental organization in Michigan. However, its toxics campaign director, Erica Bloom, pointed out that "fishing is a way of life" for many people who live beside the river.
Eisenman took part in a community-based study conducted by the Ecology Center this year that tested fish from the Huron and Rouge rivers in Michigan for PFAS, which leaked out of car and other sector pollutants.
Among the many states without PFAS-related fish eating advisories is California. That's partly due to "limited monitoring dollars," according to Jay Davis, principal scientist at the San Francisco Estuary Institute, and a focus on legacy pollutants like PCBs and mercury left over at particularly high amounts from gold and mercury mining.
California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment's chief toxicologist, Wesley Smith, stated that while the state is examining the most recent research, more information is required to create an advisory that is “neither too restrictive nor too permissive.”
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