indeed.

[unusualmusic_lj_archive]

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

Comments

[likeawoman.livejournal.com]

oh hey, this is where I live! well, not exactly where I live, but about 45 minutes from here. sadly, michigan rivers have been used and abused by all manner of industry. the town where I grew up is home to multiple superfund sites and has been making a (largely underfunded) effort to clean the river sediment for some time now, to little effect. certainly, no one but unwitting migrant farm workers eat fish out of the mighty Pine. even as a kid, it really upset me how the most vulnerable people in our town were the ones being most harmfully exposed to the chemical fallout in our river. and now Dow is donating dioxin laced walleye to food banks? *SIGH* I will say, though, that a lot of "regular" folks probably do eat walleye out of the Saginaw/Tittabawassee (which does not have quite the reputation of the Pine). I've probably eaten walleye out of those rivers, certainly from Lake Huron/Saginaw Bay (at which point, what's the difference?). it'd be fascinating to me to see how the dioxin, mercury, etc, content of Michiganders compares to other states. we like to think of all this natural splendor as being about as fresh and clean as it looks and act as though it's only the Flint river, the Huron, the Rouge, the rivers associated with urban industrial wastelands, that are cause for concern. basically, if it isn't obviously filthy and notoriously dangerous, we're too happy to look the other way. which, considering the way that these chemicals are buried in the sediment, is pretty damn ridiculous.

[buria-q.livejournal.com]

oh my god. what the fuck.