Thanks to Grand Rapids Press outdoor editor Howard Meyerson and two or three state representatives, a budget bill for the Department of Community Health signed into law last week by Governor Granholm says:
PUBLIC HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
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Sec. 650. The department shall communicate the annual public health consumption advisory for sportfish for calendar years 2004 and 2005. The department shall, at a minimum, post the advisory for each calendar year on the Internet and make the information in the advisory available to the clients of the women, infants, and children special supplemental nutrition program.
Translated to English, it means low-income women of child-bearing age will probably get a one-page flyer advising them what sportfish to be careful of consuming, lest they harm their potential children, or children with whom they are already pregnant. Michigan once printed tens of thousands of the complete (admittedly baffling to many) 64-page advisory on contaminated fish -- now we're down to this and the Internet. Still, before a Meyerson column and legislative followup, even the WIC notification wasn't likely to occur. Maybe a few children will be spared health effects because of this act.
UPDATE: Jeff Kart of the Bay City Times wrote an excellent piece on this in last Friday's paper. Here's the link:
http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-4/109664550243440.xml
Excerpts:
An updated 2004 Michigan fish advisory is out, but you'll need your own paper to print it.
"Much of the fishing season has passed us by already for 2004, and that's unfortunate," said T.J. Bucholz, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community Health in Lansing.
Comment:
It's more than unfortunate. It's a public health debacle.
Posted by Dave at October 4, 2004 04:52 PM