Advisory issued: Limit how much of these 3 fish you eat from Piscataway Creek

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland is recommending individuals restrict their intake of redbreast sunfish, yellow bullhead catfish and largemouth bass from the Piscataway Creek in Prince George’s County due to the fact of per-fluoroalky and poly-fluoroalkyl contamination.

It’s the 1st time the condition has issued these an advisory.

The point out issued the advisory for the reason that of elevated amounts of PFAS, a chemical compound identified as for every- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances in seafood.

A lot more than 4,000 substances make up PFAS. In accordance to the Maryland Section of the Ecosystem, they variety from “stain- and drinking water-resistant materials and carpeting, cleansing items, paints, cookware, food packaging and hearth-fighting foams.”

The department discovered elevated concentrations of PFOS in redbreast sunfish, yellow bullhead catfish and largemouth bass, leading to new pointers for the Potomac River tributary.

The new guidelines endorse the subsequent:

• Older people and little ones need to eat no far more than one particular meal a month of redbreast sunfish from Piscataway Creek.
• Young children must eat no a lot more than seven meals for each thirty day period of yellow bullhead catfish.
• Older people need to try to eat no extra than a few meals for each thirty day period of largemouth bass, although kids must be confined to two foods for every thirty day period.

“Maryland is committed to minimizing the dangers of PFAS substances in our state and continuing our shut coordination with scientific, regional, point out and federal associates,” mentioned Maryland Setting Secretary Ben Grumbles. “Our concentrate on PFAS in fish tissue and the ensuing consumption advisory is a further move ahead in understanding, speaking, and cutting down the potential for harm.”

The U.S. Environmental Safety Company has established that extended exposure to certain PFAS can increase the possibility of wellness issues.

They include fetal improvement issues in the course of being pregnant, as very well as most cancers, immune process harm or harm to the liver, thyroid or other organ methods.

The getting for Piscataway Creek came after plan monitoring of fish.

A 12 months back, Maryland begun sampling of fish tissue for PFAS on the Japanese Shore from the Chester, Choptank, Corsica, Elk and Wicomico rivers and Isle of Wight and Chesapeake bays. No stages of concern ended up identified.

WTOP’s Colleen Kelleher contributed to this tale.

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