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Fishermen are urged
to discard river catch
By MICHELE STCDEBAKER
Arundel Newspapers Staff Writer
Dr. Peter Sherertz, a toxicologist with the Virginia Department of Health, suggested last week that fishermen who have catches from the Shenandoah River clean out their freezers.
Dr. Sherertz advised that any frozen fish taken from the Shenandoah between August 1987 and now should be discarded as a precautionery health measure.
The department announced a week ago that fish samples taken late in 1988 from the Shenandoah in Clarke and Warren counties northwest of Fauquier contained high levels of the carcinogen PCB.
“If I had caught fish in that questionable time frame, I would just throw it out.” he said.
Dr. Sherertz also stressed that liver cancer, the cancer that chronic PCB ingestion would cause, is the result of a long-term exposure to the chemical. “Those that eat the fish for long periods of time would be at greatest risk,” he said.
Since PCB, like all toxic substances, is processed by the liver, Dr. Sherertz said those with smaller livers would be more likely to experience a problem with the chemical. And because PCB binds to fat in the body, the percentage of body fat would also be a consideration in the amount of PCB retained.
He specifically warned pregnant and nursing women against consuming the contaminated fish.
“PCB is stored in fat, and fat crosses the placental barrier and is also in milk," he said, “so pregnant and nursing women should definitely not eat the fish."
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