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Fish Consumption Advisory Update
As spring slowly arrives, Lands Council interns will once again begin educating homeless, low income, indigenous, and ethnic communities about PCBs in the fish and heavy metals (lead, arsenic, zinc, and cadmium) in sediments along certain beaches on the Spokane River. The Department of Health released its revised fish consumption advisory for the Spokane River and Lake Spokane (Long Lake) on April 30th. The new advisory is based on a 2007 health consultation. The fish consumption advisory for the Spokane River due to PCBs has been expanded and is for the general public, especially women who are or might become pregnant, nursing mothers, and young children. 
The Department of Health recommends the following:
•No fish taken from the Idaho border to Upriver Dam should be eaten;
•Largescale sucker caught between Upriver Dam and Nine Mile Dam should not be eaten, and all other species on this stretch of the river should be limited to one meal per month;
•For Long Lake (Spokane Lake), largescale sucker and brown trout should be limited to one meal per month;
•Fish heads and entrails from any fish for the entire length of the Spokane River should not be eaten, and fish fillets should be eaten instead of the whole fish; and
•Removing the fat and skin from fish before cooking reduces exposure to PCBs and other contaminants that collect in the fat of fish (filleting does not reduce mercury contamination).
Contact Kat at 209-2403 or khall@landscouncil.org with any questions on our Spokane River toxics education.
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