North Carolina health authorities have recommended limits on the consumption of certain freshwater fish from the middle and lower Cape Fear River due to concerns over contamination from “forever chemicals.”
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday that the recommendation was based on concerns about exposure to perfluorooctane sulfonic acid found in the fish sampled from that area.
PFOS is part of the chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS. They are chemicals that do not break down in the environment.
The department said these conclusions were based on newly available data and information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and that fish advisories are issued to help Americans weigh the value of eating fish with the risks of pollutants that fish absorb from their environment.
Studies have linked PFAS to multiple health impacts, including negative effects on growth, learning and behavior in children, reduced chances of getting pregnant, impaired thyroid function, increased cholesterol levels, decreased immune system response and increased risk of certain types of cancer like testicular and kidney cancer.
American Shad swim past the observation window in Brookfield Renewables’ Cataract hydroelectric station fish passage on the Saco River. (Carl D. Walsh/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)
“Studies have documented the many benefits of eating fish,” Dr. Elizabeth Cuervo Tilson, state health director and the department’s chief medical officer said in a statement. “We want residents to have these recommendations so they can make informed decisions about fish consumption, particularly if they regularly catch and eat fish from this part of the Cape Fear River.”
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This advisory recommends that women of childbearing age and children avoid eating avoid bluegill, flathead catfish, largemouth bass, redear and striped bass caught from the portions of the river and that other adults limit consumption to just one meal annually from those species combined.
For American shad, blue catfish or channel catfish, the consumption recommendation is one meal annually for women of childbearing age and children and seven meals for other adults.
Flathead catfish sit in a storage cooler at the Schafer Fisheries Inc. processing facility in Thomson, Illinois, U.S., on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
