Report Finds Chesapeake Bay Contaminants Widespread, Severe in Spots

"A new federal report finds toxic contamination remains widespread in the Chesapeake Bay, with severe impacts in some places, which health and environmental advocates say lends support to their push in Annapolis for legislative action on pesticides and other hazardous chemicals."



"The 184-page report, recently posted on the website of the Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay program, notes that nearly three-fourths of the bay's tidal waters are "fully or partially impaired" by toxic chemicals, with contamination severe enough in some areas that people are warned to limit how many fish they eat from there.

The chemicals tainting fish are mainly mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.  Once widely used in electrical equipment, PCBs were banned years ago over health concerns, but residues linger and continue to show up in fish tissue."

Tim Wheeler reports for the Baltimore Sun January 18, 2013.
 

Source: Baltimore Sun, 01/22/2013