Staggering amounts of toxic “forever chemicals” have been found in freshwater fish, but there is no federal guidance on what is a safe amount to eat

Bill Eisenman has always fished.

“Growing up, we ate whatever we caught — catfish, carp, freshwater drum,” he said. “That was the only real source of fish in our diet as a family, and we ate a lot of it.”

Today, a branch of the Rouge River runs through Eisenman’s property in a suburb north of Detroit. But in recent years, he has been wary about a group of chemicals known as PFAS, also referred to as “forever chemicals,” which don’t break down quickly in the environment and accumulate in soil, water, fish, and our bodies.

The chemicals have spewed from manufacturing plants and landfills into local ecosystems, polluting surface water and groundwater, and the wildlife living there. And hundreds of military bases have been pinpointed as sources of PFAS chemicals leaching into nearby communities.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    If you’ve been catching fish in a river or lake in the U.S. and eating it in the past 50 years or so, you’ve already been eating a ton of toxic shit. PFAS are just the icing on the cake. And we’ve basically saturated our entire generation with PFAS and will continue to do so until companies stop using them.

    • Zoboomafoo@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Detroit already has some pretty restrictive fishing limits from pollution: 3-4 sunfish or 1 bass per month

      PFAS should be the least of this guy’s concerns