Animals who are exposed to toxic PCBs cannot rid this toxic chemical from their bodies. PCBs instead concentrate in tissues and organs, and bioaccumulate. Bioaccumulation is a process by which environmental contaminants increase in concentration as they move up the food chain. As larger fish eat smaller fish, PCB levels in fish can become thousands of times higher than PCB levels in the River itself. Highest on the food chain are people.

In response to concerns for human health, in 1976 the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation banned the commercial harvest of virtually all of the Hudson’s commercially viable species, including striped bass, eel, carp, catfish and perch (see Body Burdens of Persistent Pollutants in Hudson River Anglers). GE’s discharge of PCBs into the Hudson is therefore responsible for destroying what was a centuries-old fishing industry and river-based culture.

The New York State Department of Health (DOH) fish advisory cautions women of childbearing age and children under 15 to not eat fish from the Hudson River south of Hudson Falls (see PCBs and Infant Development and PCBs and the Infant Brain). The DOH advisory also recommends that no individual should eat any fish caught between Hudson Falls and the Federal Dam in Troy. Rather, any fish caught should be released back to the River. See Health Advisory on Eating Fish Caught in the Hudson River on the EPA site.

GE points to what it calls a thriving catch-and-release system on the River as evidence that the River, and its surrounding communities, is prospering. The ability of people to catch and eat fish, as opposed to just catch and release fish, however, is the standard by which the health of the River should be determined.

Despite these health advisories, surveys show that the majority of people catch and eat PCB contaminated Hudson River fish and share their catch with friends and family.

The EPA has found that the cancer risk from eating fish from the Upper Hudson exceeds the EPA protection goal by 700 times. See PCBs and Human Health on the EPA site.