Fish consumption and contaminant exposure among Montreal-area sportfishers: Pilot study
- Montreal Public Health Program, Quebec (Canada)
- Quebec Toxicology Center, Quebec City, Quebec (Canada)
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London (United Kingdom)
A 1995 pilot study assessed sport fish consumption and contaminant exposure among Montreal-area residents fishing the frozen St. Lawrence river. Interviews conducted among 223 ice fishers met on-site were used to create an index of estimated exposure to fish-borne contaminants. A second-stage assessment of sport fish consumption and tissue contaminant burdens included 25 interviewees at the highest level of estimated contaminant exposure and 15 low-exposure fishers. High-level fisher-consumers reported eating 0.92 {+-} 0.99 sport fish meals/week during the previous 3 weeks compared to 0.38 {+-} 0.21 for the low-level group. Based on the product of consumption frequency times mass of sport fish meals consumed, high-level consumers ate a mean of 18.3 kg of sport fish annually versus 3.3 kg for the low-level consumers. Tissue contaminant assessments showed significant groupwise differences: 0--1 cm hair mercury, lipid-adjusted plasma PCB congeners, and lipid-adjusted plasma DDE. No participant had a hair mercury or plasma DDE concentration above Health Canada recommendations but 2/25 high-level participants had plasma Aroclor 1260 concentrations above recommended limits.
- OSTI ID:
- 355610
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9705313--
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Research, Journal Name: Environmental Research Journal Issue: 2Pt2 Vol. 80; ISSN ENVRAL; ISSN 0013-9351
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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