State warns against eating fish from pond
ALBANY, N.Y. » The state departments of Health and Environmental Conservation are advising people not to eat fish pulled from a pond in the town of Hoosick based on preliminary results of a study of four bodies of water in two Rensselaer County communities affected by contamination of public water supplies with reputed cancer-causing chemicals.
In a Monday afternoon news release, the state agencies announced a “catch and release” advisory for Thayer’s Pond after their study found elevated levels of perfluorinated compound, mainly perfluorooctane sulfonate acid, in some fish species. The Department of Health issued the advisory to ensure residents do not consume contaminated fish.
“Aggressively investigating the full extent of PFC contamination and its potential impact on public health continues to be our top priority,” said Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker. “Whether it’s the water we drink or the fish that we catch, residents can be assured that the Department of Health is taking actions to protect New Yorkers.”
PFOA had been used in the two local communities for decades in the manufacture of products such as non-stick cookware and electrical insulation before the federal Environmental Protection Agency stepped in in 2006 and reached an agreement with several manufacturing giants, including DuPont Co., to virtually eliminate use of the substance. High levels of PFOA were discovered in late 2015 in Hoosick Falls’ municipal water supply and early 2016 in Petersburgh’s water.
Chronic exposure to PFOA has been linked to testicular and kidney cancer, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis and pregnancy-induced hypertension.
As part of the state study, DEC officials collected fish from the Hoosic River, Little Hoosic River, Thayer’s Pond and a stream that drains from the Petersburgh town landfill. Though the primary contaminant in both communities was identified as perfluorooctanoic acid, PFOA levels observed in fish from these waters were very low, and the only elevated levels of PFOS, a compound simi-
lar to PFOA, were observed in Thayer’s Pond.
In absence of federal guidelines regarding PFOS levels in fish, state officials compared the levels observed in Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh to specific advisories for Michigan and Minnesota, as well as other available sources of relevant health information.
“Fishing is critical to the outdoor recreation economy in the state, and our research is showing that PFOA is not impacting fish in the Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh areas,” said DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos.
“Even though the environmental impacts from PFOA do not seem to be impacting fish, DEC continues to hold those responsible for the contamination accountable for cleaning up their mess.”
The state generally advises people to eat no more than four meals per month of sportfish, advice officials said applies to most waterbodies in the Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh areas. Fish consumption advisories have been in place for many years on the Hoosic and Little Hoosic rivers downstream of Route 2, however, because of historic PCB contamination. In those cases, the state recommends men older than 15 and women older than 50 eat no more than one meal per month of brown trout greater than 14 inches and no more than four meals per month of brown trout less than 14 inches or all other species, with women younger than 50 and children under 15 advised to not eat any fish from the rivers.
DEC is continuing to sample fish from waters in the Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh areas for PFCs, and the resulting new information will be considered along with the currently available information to determine whether future DOH recommendations will change.
For more information about state fish consumption advisories, visit www.health.ny.gov/fish.