State official says certain Saginaw Bay species contain dangerous levels of pollutants
 Wednesday, April 09, 2008
 By RYAN J. STANTON rstanton@bc-times.com | 894-9645

Vic Begick sits atop a five-gallon plastic bucket at the edge of the Saginaw River, his perch and crappie rig lingering in the water.

In two hours time in Bay City's Wenonah Park, the 72-year-old Bangor Township man lured in a small quantity of sheepshead, channel catfish, small walleye and white bass on Tuesday.

With no perch, Begick wasn't biting.

''Once in a while I keep a few perch, otherwise it's just recreation,'' he said, heeding to the advice of a fish advisory posted only yards away.

''I know some guys who keep catfish, and I wouldn't keep them on a bet,'' Begick averred, referring to one of the species of fish that health authorities warn contain toxic elements.

As the weather warms up, more and more anglers are out casting lines from bridges and riverbanks. But think twice before you take a bite, warns a toxicologist with the Michigan Department of Community Health.

Kory Groetsch, of the department's environmental health division in Lansing, said abnormally high levels of dioxins and PCBs have been known to exist in fish from the Saginaw River and Bay ''for a very long time.'' In fact, advisories have been around since the 1970s, he said, but ''we didn't realize just how bad it was.''

Groetsch gave a presentation at Tuesday's meeting of the Bay County Board of Commissioners, warning the public of known chemical contamination in fish that swim in the Saginaw River and Bay, as well as the Tittabawassee River.

Groetsch said the latest evidence points to a significant relationship between chemical contamination and disease in humans and those who consume fish from these waters.

For those who think there's no difference between the fish you get at the supermarket and the fish you catch, Groetsch says think again. Studies show toxic chemical concentrations are far higher in fish found in the Saginaw River and Bay: 7,000 times higher in carp, 280 times higher in white bass, 270 times higher in catfish, 40 times higher in walleye and 12 times higher in perch.

By those standards, walleye and perch are ''the good ones,'' Groetsch said.

Dioxins and PCBs - or polychlorinated biphenyl - are highly toxic compounds produced as a byproduct of manufacturing processes and persist as an environmental pollutant. The health effects include cancer, reproductive or developmental defects, and effects on the immune system.

The state issued an advisory in November for consumption of fish from the Saginaw River after extremely high levels of dioxins were found in sediments in the channel just off shore of Wickes Park in Saginaw. The sediment sample was taken by contractors working for the Dow Chemical Co. as part of the ongoing investigation of contamination in the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers.

Fish living or migrating in the Saginaw River will accumulate dioxins, mostly in the fatty tissue, according to the state Department of Community Health. People who eat these fish will, in turn, take dioxins into their bodies.

Joel Strasz, public health services manager for the Bay County Health Department, said he invited Groetsch to Bay City on Tuesday as a way of getting the word out.

''We want people to be aware of this, and one of the things we're concerned about - especially in today's economy - is that sometimes people don't have the resources to pay hard money for (food from the supermarket), but they'll go and fish and use that as a primary source of nutrition,'' he said.

Strasz said the message isn't all doom and gloom, though.

''He didn't say you shouldn't eat any kind of fish out there,'' he said. ''There are some that are more likely than others to contribute to higher levels of dioxins or pollutants in a person's body.''

Groetsch said surveys show most anglers are knowledgeable of the advisories, but a significant percentage remain in the dark, and it's mostly people of lower economic status.

Groetsch reported that one man who ate a meal of Saginaw Bay perch once a week for 20 years had a dioxin concentration of 191 parts per trillion in his blood.

Michigan's Fish Advisory Web page features links to several reports - some

as recent as February - specifically related to contamination of the Saginaw River and Bay.

Dioxin levels in fish and wild game are slowly going down, Groetsch said, but several species remain unsafe to consume. In wild game, he said, an advisory likely will be on the way for wood duck along the Saginaw River.

County Board Chairman Patrick H. Beson, D-2nd District, inquired about venison.

That's a fairly decent choice, Groetsch said, ''as long as you're not eating the liver.''
 

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For additional articles like this one, go to the Tittabawassee River Watch web site www.trwnews.net for complete coverage of the Tittabawassee River Dow Chemical dioxin contamination saga. . The Newspaper / Media page of our site contains an extensive archive of media articles dating back to January 2002. The source organization's web site link is listed to the right of the article, visit often for other news in our area. The Newspaper / Media page may be accessed by scrolling down to the bottom of the CONTENTS section and clicking on the Newspaper/Media link.