- WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Americans
were cautioned about eating fish from more than one-third of U.S. lakes
and nearly one-fourth of its rivers last year due to pollution from mercury
and other chemicals, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday.
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- Nationwide, about 102,000 lakes and about 846,000 river
miles were under fishing advisories in 2003, the EPA said in its annual
report.
-
- Fishing advisories are issued by states if high concentrations
of mercury, dioxin, DDT or three dozen other chemicals harmful to humans
are found in local fish. The advisories range from an outright ban on all
fishing to restrictions on certain species or sizes of fish.
-
- Most of the new fishing advisories issued last year were
due to mercury pollution from coal-fired utilities, the EPA said. Mercury
emissions in the air can pollute nearby streams and lakes, contaminating
local fish.
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- The EPA and the Food and Drug Administration recently
advised pregnant women, nursing mothers and young children to avoid some
types of fish that may contain higher levels of mercury which is harmful
to developing nervous systems.
-
- In 2003, 48 states, the District of Columbia and American
Samoa issued 3,094 fish advisories, 280 more than the previous year, the
EPA said. "With these additions, 35 percent of the total lake acres
and 24 percent of the river miles in the nation are now under advisory,"
it said.
-
- The nation's 1,100 coal-burning utility plants emit about
48 tons of mercury annually, the largest unregulated U.S. source of the
toxic substance.
-
- The Bush administration proposed earlier this year to
require utilities to cut mercury emissions by 70 percent by 2018, a deadline
that Democrats say is too generous to the industry and too risky for public
health.
-
- The number of river miles under fishing advisories was
up by 9 percent in 2003, with lake acreage up 2 percent, the EPA said.
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