"State health officials urged yesterday that children and women of child-bearing years avoid eating a half-dozen species of fish caught in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountain regions. The fish are feared to be contaminated with mercury. The species are the northern pike, pickerel, walleye, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and larger yellow perch.
According to the Department of Health, mercury and other contaminants may harm the nervous systems and organs of fetuses, newborns and young children. Some contaminants may also build up in women's bodies and be passed to children in their mothers' milk. Mercury contamination has become a serious problem in recent years, especially in the Northeast. A byproduct of burning coal, mercury drifts into lakes and rivers, where it is absorbed by fish and shellfish.
Last month, New York and eight other states filed a lawsuit challenging a new federal rule that they argue is inadequate in controlling mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. Until now, the Health Department has warned against consuming specific species of fish from specific lakes and ponds. For example, a perch might have been considered fine if it came from one lake but not another. Yesterday's advisory added 25 lakes and ponds to the list, 10 in the Adirondacks, bringing the total to 117. The advisory for all but one of the new 25 bodies of water cited the threat of mercury contamination. (The one exception - Canadice Lake in Ontario County - was prompted by PCB contamination.)
Women and children are being advised not to eat any fish from the 25 newly listed lakes and ponds."
EDIT
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/16/nyregion/16fish.html?oref=login
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