Is Maryland protecting its fishing industry at the expense of public health?

By Pat Elder
August 30, 2021

Filleting fish at the Ron ‘N’ Reel Resort in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland

The Bay Journal reported today that the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) says it’s OK to eat the fish found to have high levels of PFAS by the town of Chesapeake Beach earlier this month. The filet of the fish caught just offshore of the Naval Research Laboratory - Chesapeake Bay Detachment was found to have 9,470 ppt of PFAS.

The MDE said the PFAS levels in the fish pose little risk, assuming that adults don’t make a meal of such fish more than 48 times a year and that children eat the fish no more than 28 times a year.

This is a curious statement because the state has generally defended its refusal to regulate PFAS levels in seafood by claiming there’s a lack of science to justify regulating the chemicals.

In 2018, when PFAS was found to contain 574,000 ppt in the blood plasma of a smallmouth bass in Antietam Creek where it empties into the Potomac River, the state failed to enact measures to protect the public. Instead, the MDE questioned the basis for a conclusion about health risks associated with PFAS in fish blood. PFAS levels in fish tend to be highest in their blood and livers, with lower levels in their muscle or tissue.

What is the science behind the state’s contention that the public can consume fish containing concentrations of PFAS of 9,470 ppt 48 times a year? They have no science, just like the MDE published a report on PFAS levels in oysters without credible science.

A meal of pan-fried fish may weigh 8 ounces or 227 grams. If the filet of the fish contains 9,470 ppt of PFAS (mostly, the deadly PFOS), that’s 9.47 parts per billion, which is the same as 9.47 nanograms per gram. So, 9.47 ng/g x 227 g = 2,150 ng of PFAS chemicals. An 8- ounce serving of fish from the bay contains 2,150 nanograms of PFAS. Hold the thought.

With the corporate-controlled EPA on the sidelines, we look to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for guidance. EFSA has set a Tolerable Weekly Intake of 4.4 nanograms per kilogram of body weight for PFOS, PFOA and two other PFAS chemicals they track in food. So, according to this guideline, someone weighing 150 pounds (67.8 kilos) can “safely” consume about 300 nanograms per week of PFAS chemicals.

One meal of the fish containing 2,150 ng of PFAS is more than 7 times greater than the European weekly limit, while the state of Maryland is telling its citizens they can eat this fish 48 times in a year.

If an individual ate the perch caught off the shore of the Navy base in Chesapeake Beach 48 times in a year, they would consume 103,200 nanograms of the carcinogens, and the state says they’re OK with this.

The Europeans based their Tolerable Weekly Intake of 4.4 nanograms per kilogram of body weight on the tendency of PFAS to decrease people’s immune system response to vaccinations. COVID 19 has infected nearly a half million people in Maryland while those who are vaccinated are facing increasingly higher rates of infection. Here’s the science generated by EFSA. Where’s the science generated by MDE?