This advisory is not intended to discourage you from eating fish, but it should be used as a guide to reduce your risk of eating contaminated fish. It may take months or years of regularly eating contaminated fish to build up amounts which are a health concern. Health problems which may result from the contaminants 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 this advisory is intended to protect children from those potential developmental problems.
Adults are less likely to have health problems at the low levels that affect children.