[Pharmwaste] Human Activity Blamed for Fish Ills (Potomac River)

[Tenace, Laurie]

'Human Activity' Blamed for Fish Ills
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/07/AR20080207021
12.html?hpid=sec-health

By David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer 
Friday, February 8, 2008; Page B03 

Federal scientists seeking to learn why male fish in the Potomac River are
growing eggs said yesterday that they've made an important determination: New
research shows that the fish symptoms are worse in streams near towns or near
heavily farmed areas. 

That finding, announced today, does not pinpoint the pollutant that is
causing the "intersex" condition. It also does not answer questions about
whether the abnormal fish indicate a threat to human health, as the Potomac
is a major source of drinking water for the area. 

But it does seem to confirm what scientists have suspected since the fish
were first found in 2003. The cause, they said, is probably some pollutant
created by humans -- perhaps a farm chemical, or treated sewage, which can
contain human hormones or residue from birth-control pills. 

Any of these might have fooled the fishes' natural hormone systems, causing
male fish to take on female characteristics. 

"I feel comfortable saying human activity" is the cause, said Vicki S.
Blazer, a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey and the primary author of
the study. "The question is, which human activity? And is it something we can
do anything about?" 

Scientists first found the abnormal fish in the South Branch of the Potomac,
a shallow tributary in West Virginia. Since then, they have found
gender-bending properties in several fish species and in Virginia, West
Virginia, Maryland and the District. The District site was near the outfall
of the Blue Plains sewage plant, close to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. 

Even after these discoveries, Blazer said, scientists were nagged by one
question: Was it possible that this condition was somehow natural, and not
caused by pollution? If so, the condition would show up everywhere, not just
in streams heavily affected by runoff from towns or farms. 

They then examined a control group of smallmouth bass, caught in relatively
pristine rivers outside the Potomac watershed in West Virginia. Blazer said
they did find some intersex characteristics in these fish -- 22 percent of
the male fish at the headwaters of the Greenbrier River, for instance, seemed
to be growing eggs. 

But Blazer said that conditions were much worse in the Shenadoah River, which
runs through an area of Virginia thick with poultry farms and steadily
gaining in population. In two of the three Shenandoah sites, she said, every
fish they dissected had eggs. 

She said this data seemed to confirm the theory that the more humans live or
farm nearby, the more likely fish are to be abnormal. 

Blazer said that the next step is to try to determine whether intersex fish
are in worse overall health than others. She said that, even if the eggs do
not harm the fish, the pollutants that cause them might also degrade the
fishes' immune systems or their organs. 



Laurie J. Tenace
Environmental Specialist
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
2600 Blair Stone Road, MS 4555
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2400
PH: (850) 245-8759
FAX: (850) 245-8811
Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us 

Mercury web pages:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/mercury/default.htm

Unwanted Medications web pages:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/medications/default.htm




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