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Dow-sponsored Walleye Fest to donate contaminated fish to the poor
Despite advisories that warn people to avoid contact with river sediments and consuming locally caught fish, thousands are expected to participate this weekend in a Dow Chemical-sponsored walleye festival along the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers, where the watershed has been contaminated with harmful dioxin and other toxic substances. And just as the Michigan Department of Community Health is warning that children and pre-menopausal women should mostly avoid eating river fish including walleye because of contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxin, organizers of the festival say they plan to donate walleye fillets to a local food bank.
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It is breeding season for walleye. The fish are swimming from Saginaw Bay, up the Saginaw and Tittabawassee rivers, through a zone that some insist should be listed as a Superfund site. In 2007 the highest level of dioxin contamination ever measured by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was found in the Saginaw River prompting emergency clean up. Other dioxin remediation projects are ongoing. The entire span of the river used for the walleye festival is known to be contaminated with dioxin from chemical manufacturing operations at Dow Chemical’s Midland plant.MORE
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Date: 2009-04-23 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-24 09:23 pm (UTC)