Reduce your PCB exposure and protect your family

Avoid Eating Fish and Game --- Avoid eating fish, ducks and other wildlife from the Fox River, Green Bay and Great Lakes region. All the fish contain at least some degree of PCB contamination, and many ducks are contaminated as well. If you do eat wild game, follow the governments’ consumption advisories and cooking guidelines, to limit your PCB exposure. (Keep in mind that fish from other areas are also frequently contaminated with PCBs, especially salmon and shellfish.)   Girls should be especially careful to avoid eating PCB-contaminated fish, because they can accumulate the PCBs, then pass the chemicals to their future children.

"Catch and Release" is a good idea on the Fox River.

• Avoid Eating High-Fat Animal Products --- such as red meat, poultry, dairy products, eggs, etc. If you’d rather not eliminate these products entirely, switch to low fat versions. Many chemical pollutants (including PCBs, dioxins, and furans) concentrate in the flesh and milk of livestock, especially in the fat. At the same time, health experts routinely warn us to reduce animal fats in our diets because of proven links to increased cancer rates, heart disease and other serious health problems. (Is fat the problem, or is it the toxic chemicals carried by the fat?)  Try a delicious vegetarian dish in place of fish or meat.  See recipe links below.

• Avoid Skin Contact --- Prevent or limit your skin contact with the bottom muds, shore soil or water from the Fox River and Green Bay. PCBs can be rapidly absorbed through the skin. The more concentrated PCBs in the bottom and shore muds should be avoided particularly. 

• Check Old Fluorescent Light Fixtures --- in your home, school and workplace. If the fixtures are from 1979 or older they may contain significant amounts of PCBs and need replacing. (See PCBs in Fluorescent Light Ballasts.) Contact your local solid waste department to ask how to dispose of the fixtures, and don’t allow the fixture to contact your skin.

• Replace Old Appliances --- such as television sets and refrigerators older than 1979. These may leak small amounts of PCBs into the air when they get hot during operation.

• Check the Pump --- If you drink well-water, have your well inspected to determine whether you have an old pump containing PCB oil. Sometimes these pumps leak PCBs; therefore, they should be replaced and any contamination at the site cleaned. This needs to be done by certified well-maintenance professionals. (See PCBs in Well Pumps)

• Check Old Products for PCBs --- Old painted surfaces, old grout, old asphalt shingles, old tar paper and old sealants may contain PCB contamination, sometimes at high levels. If possible, have them tested for contamination and removed if the test is positive. Avoid skin contact and ventilate the area well until the situation is under control. If old PCB products are melted or burned in a fire, this may spread contamination with the smoke, and also create new furans and dioxins.

• Avoid Old Industrial Sites --- Learn the history of workplaces, old buildings and dump sites. Avoid areas where work was conducted on old electrical equipment, capacitors and transformers --- or have them tested to determine safety. PCBs can be absorbed several inches into old brick, concrete and other surfaces --- but will keep volatilizing into the air for years afterward.

• Avoid Transformers and Capacitors --- Old electrical transformers and capacitors are STILL allowed to contain old PCB oil, for the life of the equipment. New ones do not. Avoid contact with this equipment until sure. If PCB transformers or capacitors are involved in fires or explosions, the contamination in the area and downwind may be dangerous and require professional cleanup help. (See Potential Health Hazards from Electrical Fires or Failures.)

• Filter and Treat Landfill Gases --- Insist that nearby landfills filter and treat the gases vented from within the waste (right now, most do not filter). Generally, the municipal and industrial landfills in Northeast Wisconsin (engineered or not) contain significant amounts of PCBs. The PCBs volatilize into the air and blow downwind. Some landfills burn the landfill gas, which may create dioxins, furans and other toxic byproducts in the air emissions. We must insist on better controls.

• Be Careful in the Garden ---If you work a garden downwind near the river and lower bay, and especially if bottom sediments were dredged and brought up to the garden, wear gloves and clothes to limit contact with the topsoil. Have the soil tested for chemical contamination before growing root crops for consumption, such as carrots and potatoes. Or be certain to peel the carrots and potatoes, because PCBs concentrate in the lipid layer of their skins. This advice applies to neighbors of sites such as the disposal dump called "Kidney Island" (Renard Isle), offshore from Bay Beach Park in Green Bay. The dredged soils were dry and blew inland in the winter in some years, contaminating neighbors’ soils.) 

• Reduce Dust and Dirt in the Home --- Simply keeping the house clean helps to reduce PCBs which may come in with dust, especially with kids and pets.

• Demand Government Action to Clean-up PCBs --- Attend public hearings, write letters, and talk to your elected representatives to demand cleanup of PCB contamination in the Fox River, Green Bay and everywhere else. (see How You Can Help)

• Stop Breathing --- (Just kidding.) If you do all of the above, your PCB exposures will be greatly reduced and you can breathe easier. Outdoor air exposures are generally lower (and unavoidable afterall) compared to the other types of exposure listed above.

• Protecting Your Child from Toxic Threats to Brain Development
• How Toxic is Your Diet?
• How to Start to Stop Dioxin Exposure in Your Community
• Common Uses of PCBs
• PCBs in Fluorescent Light Ballasts
• PCBs --- Potential Health Hazards from Electrical Fires or Failures
• PCBs in Well Pumps

The Vegetarian Resource Group --- Learn the Advantages of a Healthier Diet International Vegetarian Union North American Vegetarian Society Vegetarian Recipes More Vegetarian Recipes

 

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