What are the health impacts of consuming fish with PCBs?
The PA Department of Health provides detailed health information about this and other subjects. Long lasting contaminant’s such as PCBs, chlordane, and mercury build up over time. It may take months or years of regularly eating contaminated fish to build up amounts that are a health concern. Women of childbearing age and children, as well as people who regularly eat hatchery trout or other sport fish, may have concerns about contaminants that build up over time. Health problems which may result from the contaminant’s found in fish range from small changes in health that are hard to detect to birth defects and cancer. Mothers who eat highly contaminated fish for many years before becoming pregnant may have children who are slower to develop and learn. The meal advice in consumption advisories is intended to protect children from these potential developmental problems. Adults are less likely to have health problems at the low levels that affect children. The human body gets rid of some c
