Each year, the state prints and distributes 40,000 copies of its annual fish advisory, which details mercury contamination in Wisconsin's lakes and rivers. But officials say that is not nearly enough to cover the 1.5 million people who get fishing licenses each year. Anglers who do get the information often don't share it with family members who also eat their catch, said Jim Amrhein, a state Department of Natural Resources fish contaminant specialist. Mercury can cause delayed development, reduced intelligence and other nervous system damage, especially in fetuses and young children.
Mercury pollution comes from coal-fired power plants and solid and medical waste incinerators.
It ends up in lakes and is absorbed by fish. Last week, the state Natural Resources Board ordered Wisconsin environmental officials to begin work on the nation's first rules forcing utilities and industry to cut mercury emissions. Henry Anderson of the state Bureau of Environmental Health said the state caused some confusion by sending out the information about mercury along with other toxins, such as PCBs. PCBs, once used by paper mills, have been found in aquatic life and are suspected of causing cancer. The risk of ingesting PCBs is reduced by removing the fish's fat and skin.