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Mercury in Fish


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Mercury in fish

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends that children and women of childbearing age who eat 2 to 3 fish servings a month should select fish with less than 300 parts per billion of methylmercury. The EPA has not developed any guidelines for the general population. The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) set a guideline of 500 parts per billion for children and women of childbearing age and 1000 parts per billion for the general population. ODEQ's guideline estimates people eat 2 fish servings a month and does not take into account the saltwater fish in people's diet

study result table: Mercury in fish

Click on graph to enlarge.

Notes:

Mercury concentrations are expressed in parts per billion, a measure of how concentrated a contaminant is in the fish tissue.

Concentrations are expressed on a wet weight (fresh weight) basis.


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Harvard School of Public Health LEAD Agency university of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center logo

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences The Grand Lake Watershed Mercury Study is supported with funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Grant No.1R21ES017941.

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