(WWJ) New reports on the amount of "forever chemicals" found in Great Lakes fish has the State Health Department advising Michiganders against eating certain species from several bodies of water in Metro Detroit.
Recent testing detected dangerous levels of forever chemicals -- more commonly known as PFAS -- in samples caught in the Detroit River, the St. Clair River, the Black River, Lake Erie, the Rouge River and the Huron River.
According to the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART), "PFAS are a large group of man-made chemicals that... have been used globally during the past century in manufacturing, firefighting and thousands of common household and other consumer products."
They are classified as "persistent" chemicals, meaning they don't naturally break down. Instead, they build up in water, plants, animals and people.
While PFAS cannot pass easily through the skin, ingesting fish or other foods containing the chemical is cause for concern.
As reported by Fox 2, researchers who reviewed data from the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that "consuming a single fish from a U.S. lake or river is the equivalent of drinking water contaminated with a months-worth of forever chemicals."
Due to the elevated levels, the State Health Department recommends limiting consumption of certain species of fish -- and avoiding others altogether.
To help residents make informed decisions, MPART regularly updates their Eat Safe Fish guidelines, which specify which fish from which bodies of water contain unsafe levels of PFAS.
These guidelines also let Michiganders know how much of each fish they can safely consume -- with recommended amounts ranging from "12 servings per month" to "six servings per year" to "Do Not Eat."
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