Research Article Evaluation of Mercury Exposure Reduction through a Fish Consumption Advisory Program for Anishinaabe Tribal

• Main Authors: J. A. Foran, A. D. Deweese, M. J. Hudson, N. E. Kmiecik
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Indian; anishina*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.351.4731

Copyright © 2010 J. A. Foran et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission has an extensive program to inform Anishinaabe tribal members from northern Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota who harvest and consume walleye about the health risks of consuming these fish, and to encourage harvest and consumption practices that reduce exposure to MeHg. We report here the results of a probabilistic analysis of exposure to methyl mercury (MeHg) among tribal members who consume walleye. The model predicts that the potential for greatest exposures to MeHg occur among women of child-bearing age and children who consume large walleye from lakes that contain heavily contaminated (MeHg concentration>0.5 mg/kg) fish. The analysis allows GLIFWC to evaluate, focus, and fine-tune its initiatives to protect the health of tribal members in ways that result in exposure and risk reduction for tribal harvesters, women of child-bearing age, and children, while maintaining important tribal lifeways, which include the harvest and consumption of walleye. 1.