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Abstract #161184

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Conrad Volz, DrPH, MPH¹, Nancy Sussman, PhD¹, Devra Lee Davis, PhD, MPH², Maryann Donovan, MPH, PhD², Yan Liu, BS Env Eng¹, Sean Brady, BS, MA³, Karen Gainey⁴, and Jeanne Zborowski, PhD, MS⁵. (1) Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, A712 PUBHL, 130 Desoto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, 724-316-5408, sierrakellydan@msn.com, (2) Center for Environmental Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, UPMC Cancer Pavilion, Fourth Floor, Room 435, 5150 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, (3) Assistant Executive Director, Venture Outdoors, 304 Forbes Avenue 2nd Floof, Pittsburgh, AB 15222, (4) Kamsport-Community Bass-Angler Representitive, P.O. Box 41006, Pittsburgh, PA 15202, (5) Graduate School of Public Health- Dept of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Academic Partner of Excellence in EPHT, 510 Parran Hall, 130 DeSoto Street, Pittsburg, PA 15261

Fisher focus groups indicate that White Bass (WB), Morone chrysops, are caught on the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers (AlleMon) and are consumed by semi-subsistence fishers and recreational anglers; they are also purchased in local markets. The AlleMon near Pittsburgh is high in legacy metallotoxin waste and has the largest number of combined sewer overflows in the Ohio River drainage. We sought to determine if WB caught in different locations on the AlleMon differed in Mercury (Hg), Arsenic (As), and/or Selenium (Se) concentrations. Additionally, we sought to determine if WB caught in the AlleMon Pool differed in Hg, As and/or Se from WB, sold as Canadian WB from Lake Erie, bought in a fish-market. There was no difference in the median concentration of Hg, As and Se in WB caught near an integrated steel mill and those caught in a non-industrial area, downstream from city water intakes, both within the AlleMon Pool. Significantly higher levels of As, Hg and Se were found in store-bought fish as compared to WB caught at both the Allegheny and Monongahela River sites in the AlleMon Pool. Surprisingly, the 95% confidence interval of the median of Hg in store-bought WB was 2.27 to 4.83 times that of WB caught near the steel works on the Monongahela River. Length was significant in explaining differences in Hg but not As or Se concentrations. We conclude that purchasing WB from a market cannot guarantee food safety; the general public should receive contaminant, location and species alerts in the marketplace.

Learning Objectives:

• To recognize the importance of catch location in the quantity of a contaminant in fish flesh.
• To alert participants that fish from markets can have higher contaminant levels than fish even caught near legacy industrial sites.
• To initiate discussion of regulatory action relative to location specific warnings for fish sold in markets.

Keywords: Food Safety, International Reproductive Health

Related Web page: www.pitt.edu/~cdv5/Research.htm

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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