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ONE FISH, TWO FISH, RED FISH, BLUE FISH: THE FISH QUALITY INDEX AS A RISK COMMUNICATION TOOL
Citation:
Petersen*, D. ONE FISH, TWO FISH, RED FISH, BLUE FISH: THE FISH QUALITY INDEX AS A RISK COMMUNICATION TOOL. Presented at Society of Toxicology, Nashville, TN, 3/17-21/2002.
Description:
Many people are at high risk for methyl mercury toxicity because of their consumption of contaminated fish. Often health risks of Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxicants (PT) such as methyl mercury, PCBs or Dioxins are underestimated because of their amplification in the food chain resulting in toxicity even though ambient levels of these PBT are within acceptable limits. Two concerns have developed from this situation, 1) most of the affected groups have not been identified, 2) means of effectively communicating the possible risk to the affected groups do not readily exist. We are defining regions and specific lakes and rivers that have high levels of consumption of fish, and where high PBT concentrations in water can occur. We ar also identifying populations of subsistence fishermen or other high-risk groups who consume large quantities of fish from these waters. The final product will be a user-friendly risk communication tool (the Fish Quality Index), which is a color-coded pictogram for various fish species. This map-based tool transcends language and literacy boundaries and should inform anglers of the relative health risks according to the species of fish that they regulatly consume.