Iowa faulted on mercury warnings
By PERRY BEEMAN <mailto:[log in to unmask]: Iowa faulted on
mercury warnings>
Register Staff Writer
01/14/2004

Iowa is one of few states - and the only one in the Midwest - that don't
routinely warn residents about health-threatening mercury in fish they catch
in local lakes and rivers, the Sierra Club will report today.
Iowa environmental officials said Tuesday that in coming months they
probably would issue at least general mercury warnings. The state hasn't
issued statewide or local mercury warnings in recent years, even though
about one of 25 sites checked each year violates U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency guidelines, said John Olson of the Iowa Department of
Natural Resources.
All but five states issue mercury advisories statewide or for certain lakes
or rivers, reported the Sierra Club, a national group that advocates for
environmental protection.
Olson and colleagues are joining with state health workers to consider
tighter standards. Iowa uses old guidelines from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, intended to protect the fish supplies in markets. Many
states are using the tougher EPA guidelines, which are designed for fish
caught in the wild and eaten, uninspected.
Bill Dearden, 64, owner of Polk City Bait and Tackle, said of mercury
poisoning, "I've heard of it, but I didn't know it was a problem around
here."
If there were evidence of a problem, Dearden said, he'd think twice about
eating the fish or serving it to women or children. "I hope it never comes
to that, because I make my living selling big fishing products," Dearden
said.
The Sierra Club's Midwest office, in Madison, Wis., plans to issue a report
today that questions why Iowa doesn't warn consumers about potentially
health-threatening mercury in the bass, walleye and other predatory game
fish from Iowa waters.
"Studies of human exposure to mercury show that infants, and children under
the age of 14, are at the greatest risk from mercury's dangerous
neurodevelopmental effects," the Sierra Club said. "In addition to being
smaller than adults, their brains, nervous systems and bodies are still
developing and growing. When exposed to even small levels of mercury in
utero or during their developing years, children can suffer emotional,
intellectual, and physical impairments for the rest of their lives."
Emissions from coal-fired power plants - which are common in Iowa - are the
biggest source of mercury in waterways, the federal government reports.
Eating contaminated fish is the most common way of getting mercury
poisoning, the EPA reported.
Federal law doesn't require states to warn consumers. Iowa tests fish tissue
in up to 25 waterways a year - because the federal government will pay for
that many tests, said Marion Conover, a state fisheries official.
States have used all kinds of policies in deciding whether to issue
advisories, said the DNR's Olson. "States are faced with the contradiction
of having a very good, nutritious food source and the possibility of
contamination," he said.
Eric Uram of the Sierra Club's Midwest office said Iowa's warning system is
"unacceptable." Fishing is popular in the state - 471,000 people logged 7
million fishing days in 2001, the club says - and many people eat the fish.
Bass and walleye tend to harbor the most mercury.

Tarah Heinzen
Sierra Club Conservation Organizer
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA 50310
(515) 251-3995
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