Dead Fish , PCB's, and Man Made Toxins

Fox River, Lake Winnebago, and the bay of Green Bay waters have become the death trap for fish that are inflicted with hemorrhagic virus akin to the Ebola virus. Blood hemorrhages break out and the fish soon die. The Wisconsin DNR is now attempting to forestall the spread of the virus and the consequences for the fish and the fishing communities.This virulent disease has recently spread to the United States from Europe and has inflicted fish in the eastern US and is spreading westward. The fish in waters of Lake Winnebago and the Fox River have been dying and washing ashore as we humans observe and are helpless to stop the catastrophe.

This should not come as a surprise to those who have been paying attention to the PCB poisoning of the Fox River and the bay of Green Bay by carcinogenic and bio accumulative man made PCB's that are prevalent in the water and sediments. It is estimated that 600,000 to one million pounds of PCB's were discharged into the Fox River from the mid 1950's till the early 1980's by several paper companies in the Fox Valley. The persistent nature of the toxins threatens human life and they should have been removed from the sediments long ago. However, political and corporate resistance and anti-environmental lobbying has pressured governmental agencies and virtually nothing has been done to remove the deadly toxins. The latest plan proposed by the EPA and WI DNR involves covering about half of the PCB laden-sediments with sand and stones (referred to as "capping") and removing the remainder to safe containment sites. Capping is an unproven method and must not be used.

Meanwhile the PCB's have spread and diffused for over 50 years so that the affected sediments and waters are ubiquitous, and the fish are consuming PCB contaminated plankton and smaller fish and becoming poisoned with PCB's. Those living in northeastern Wisconsin should be aware of fish eating advisories that warn against consumption of fish from the PCB contaminated waters. Yet the PCB contaminated fish and poisoned water are a continuous threat to human health and well being and are direct threats to the health of the fish that are poisoned.

Research has proven that PCB's impairs the immune systems of fish and humans. We all become more susceptible to diseases that we otherwise could ward off because of toxins, such as PCB's that are ingested or contacted. The hemorrhagic virus that is now threatening fish in Northeastern Wisconsin waters is made more potent because of the reduced natural resistance to diseases caused by PCB's.

As we witness the dying fish we should ask ourselves what are we doing to ourselves when we allow indiscriminate toxic contamination of water, food, and land. We share the same biological systems and are vulnerable to unnatural man made toxins that have become common in our environment. A lesson can be learned if we open our eyes and minds to the irreparable harm that has been caused and do something to reverse the Manmade Toxic Chemical Age that now prevails.