Oral

Chemical contaminants in freshwater fish present potential health risks for subsistence fishers and recreational anglers. Many questions remain, however, about the sources and associated human health risks of those contaminants, their policy implications, and how to communicate risk information to culturally diverse fish-consuming populations. The first presentation in this session reports on the development and evaluation of a fish consumption advisory program, designed to be culturally sensitive for a Native American population. The following four presentations all originate from the comprehensive study in one geographic region, the Pittsburgh Fish Consumption Study. One presentation describes community based participatory research techniques used to understand patterns of fish consumption by semi-subsistence fishers and recreational anglers, and the discovery of unexpected results about the extent of pollution sources and under-reported gastrointestinal illnesses. The findings of fish tissue analyses for metal and xenoestrogen content are reported in the following presentations, with consideration of their broader implications, particularly source identification and health risks.

Session Objectives: 1. Describe factors to consider in developing a culturally sensitive fish consumption advisory program. 2. Discuss ways to incorporate community participation into environmental health research, and describe potential benefits of community participation. 3. Describe how widely fish contamination can vary within a geographic location. 4. Discuss the need to address fish type and catch location in regulatory actions and fish advisories. 5. Explain potential uses of fish sampling to monitor water quality.

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing