RISK ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF CHEMICAL CONTAMINANTS IN FISHERY PRODUCTS CONSUMED IN THE USA

In the USA a small proportion of fishery products are contaminated wit h appreciable amounts of potentially hazardous contaminants. However, risks to consumers are not generally high. Inorganic contaminants with the greatest potential for toxicity are antimony, arsenic, cadmium, l ead, mercury, selenium and sulfites. Among organic compounds, polychlo rinated biphenyls, dioxins, several chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticid es, certain processing-related and aquaculture-related contaminants po se potential risks for consumers. Log-normal distributions appear to p rovide good descriptions of the pattern of variation of contaminant co ncentrations among different geographic areas, and some contaminants ( mostly organic) appear to be much more variable than others. This vari ability offers a solution for reduction of exposure through restrictin g the harvest of aquatic organisms from specific sites, and by excludi ng certain species. It is recommended that: (i) existing State and Fed eral regulations and environmental monitoring be strengthened and enfo rced to minimize contamination of the aquatic environment; (ii) a prog ram of shared responsibility be instituted, where Federal agencies dev elop a set of monitoring and inspection practices and state agencies a ssume responsibility for primary control, site closures and advisories issue; (iii) research and public education by government agencies and health professionals be expanded to determine actual risks and approa ches to manage them; (iv) mandatory labeling be considered for specifi c contaminants; (v) a better system requiring international agreements be developed in order to minimize the differences among various natio nal regulatory approaches.