Today, the Seattle Times published an op-ed by CPR scholar and University of Seattle law professor Catherine O'Neill with University of Washington professor and public health officer Frank James entitled, "Protect water and health by updating state’s fish-consumption rate."
According to the piece:
GOV. Jay Inslee is currently considering how much fish Washingtonians may safely consume — a question that will, in turn, determine how protective our state’s water-quality standards should be.
As professionals who have worked for two decades with people impacted by contamination in our fish, we see this as a serious question.
Washington’s current water-quality standards permit people to safely eat just one fish meal a month. Those of us who eat more fish than this do so at our own peril.
Eating fish is the primary way that humans are exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (better known as PCBs), mercury and many other toxic pollutants. These chemicals cause cancer, permanent neurological damage and other harms.
Although Washington’s Department of Ecology is poised to update its current standards, it remains to be seen whether the new standards will be more protective by requiring the water to be clean enough for people to eat fish more than once each month.
Professor O'Neill has recently blogged on Washington State's Department of Ecology's potential move to weaken water quality standards in the region, thereby affecting the ability of tribal communities to have access to their native diets.
And play is precisely what industrial polluters and their consultants do, as they take aim at each variable, with the ultimate goal of weakening the resulting water quality standards. I have discussed some of these efforts in the Pacific Northwest here and here, as well as here.
The latest tactic - advanced by an industry consultant - and currently embraced by Washington’s Department of Ecology as its “preferred approach” – is to alter the standard assumption for adult bodyweight, increasing it from 70 kg to 80 kg. This change to Ecology’s (and EPA’s) longstanding practice was suggested on the theory that tribal people, on average, currently have a higher bodyweight, i.e., 79 kg or 81 kg, according to two recent surveys in the Pacific Northwest. The “average American,” too, it was suggested, is currently heavier than in prior years. The difference in the resulting water quality standards as a consequence of this change? The standards would be roughly 10% - 15% less protective.
Which means that the fish will be that much less safe to eat – or, to put a finer point on it: tribal people seeking to put a healthy, uncontaminated meal of fish on their table will be able to do so less often.
Showing 2,862 results
Erin Kesler | May 19, 2014
Today, the Seattle Times published an op-ed by CPR scholar and University of Seattle law professor Catherine O’Neill with University of Washington professor and public health officer Frank James entitled, “Protect water and health by updating state’s fish-consumption rate.” According to the piece: GOV. Jay Inslee is currently considering how much fish Washingtonians may safely consume […]
Erin Kesler | May 16, 2014
Center for Progressive Reform Scholar Sidney Shapiro and Asbestos Disease Awareness Association President Linda Reinstein published a piece in Mint Press News on toxic chemical reform legislation. They note: Imagine a chemical that every public health organization in the United States and around the world knows to cause cancer and a host of other illnesses. You might […]
Matt Shudtz | May 8, 2014
The National Academies’ National Research Council released its long-awaited report on IRIS this week, and the results are good for EPA. The report praises the IRIS program and its leadership, including Drs. Olden and Cogliano, for making great strides to improve how IRIS assessments are developed. To get a real appreciation for how positive this […]
Anne Havemann | May 8, 2014
Air pollution is a complex problem. For one, it does not adhere to state boundaries; a smokestack in one state can contribute to pollution problems in another, even a downwind state hundreds of miles away. What’s more, air pollution’s impacts are not confined to just the air. What goes up must come down, and air pollutants […]
Frank Ackerman | May 6, 2014
Frank Ackerman is the coauthor, with Joseph Daniel, of (Mis)understanding Climate Policy: The role of economic modeling, prepared for Friends of the Earth (England, Wales & Northern Ireland) and WWF-UK. Under the Climate Change Act 2008, the UK government sets “legally binding” carbon budgets, which cap the country’s total emissions for five-year periods. The size of […]
William Andreen | May 1, 2014
On April 21, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published a proposed rulemaking to clarify the jurisdictional reach of the protections afforded by the Clean Water Act of 1972. The Clean Water Act is the foundation of our nation’s effort to restore and maintain the biological, chemical, and physical […]
Erin Kesler | April 29, 2014
The Supreme Court today upheld, by a 6-2 vote, the EPA’s cross-state air pollution rule. Below are reactions from Center for Progressive Reform scholars Thomas O. McGarity and Victor Flatt. According to McGarity: After two decade’s worth of litigation, the Supreme Court has finally held that EPA may require polluters in one state to protect […]
Joel A. Mintz | April 24, 2014
In a very thoughtful CPRBlog piece, dated April 14, 2014, Rena Steinzor presents a powerful critique of the enforcement aspects of EPA’s 2014-2018 Strategic Plan. As Professor Steinzor rightly points out, EPA’s projected cutbacks in source inspections, civil judicial enforcement, administrative enforcement actions, and other enforcement work will likely encourage air and water pollution by […]
Christine Klein | April 21, 2014
Landowners flooded by the Missouri River in 2011 have sued the Corps of Engineers for a Fifth Amendment “taking” under the U.S. Constitution. Their attorneys hope to rake in over $250 million in claims for their clients and at least $1 million in expenses and fees for themselves. They’re likely to be disappointed. Lawsuits seeking […]