| By Bob Weaver
The biggest threat of mercury contamination in West Virginia is from eating fish, according to researchers with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
The DEP is holding statewide public hearings to discuss a recent study of mercury contamination in West Virginia.
Renu Chakrabaty, Air Toxics Coordinator for the DEP's Division of Air Quality, says the findings were very similar to the mercury contamination found across the country.
"Mercury is a concern, that's why we have a host of regulations that seek to limit mercury from various categories of industrial sectors," she said.
If you're eating lots of fish out of the Little Kanawha River, you might want to re-think your menu.
The Little Kanawha fish contain a considerable amount of mercury.
The Bureau for Public Health, Division of Natural Resources and Department of Environmental Protection issued a fish consumption advisory related to the amount of Mercury in the Little Kanawha.
Mercury contamination could cause a problem for individuals if too many fish are consumed.
A two-year study that sampled fish from 56 locations prompted state health, environmental and natural resource officials to issue a statewide advisory about possible mercury contamination from fish caught in seventeen streams or rivers, also including the Ohio and Hughes rivers.
Chakrabaty says that limiting fish consumption is the most effective deterrent to mercury contamination among humans.
Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that accumulates in fish. It poses the greatest risk of nerve and brain damage to pregnant women, women of childbearing age and young children.
The DEP found that the quantitative data on how many West Virginians consume fish from those waters was hard to determine, leaving unanswered questions regarding how the population is affected.
The DEP is adding regulations of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. Those regulations are taking effect in the next few months.
Chakarabaty says airborne mercury isn't a significant threat in West Virginia.
Over 20 states have concluded that the federal approach to cutting mercury emissions is too weak and are pursuing tougher measures of their own.
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