Toxic Fish--County Won’t Post Warnings

A Los Angeles County health official said Thursday he has no plans to order the posting of warnings about the possible dangers of eating contaminated fish from Santa Monica and San Pedro bays, despite concerns expressed by two other public agencies.

Douglas Steele, deputy director of public health, said that after reviewing reports showing above-average levels of DDT and other toxics in sportfish taken from the two bays, he is not convinced as to whether a “serious” health threat exists and said that issuing warnings could cause an unnecessary panic.

“I don’t think this is a problem of major significance,” Steele said. “It seems public officials have a duty to warn the public about real hazards and an equal duty not to alarm them about imaginative hazards. . . . I don’t want to go out and post signs saying here’s one more thing that will kill you.”

Steele’s appraisal conflicted with the findings of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board and the state Department of Health Services. The two agencies have each issued reports in which they warn about consumption of fish taken from the bays, and both have called for further investigation of the toxic threat.

Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer, director of health services, could not be reached for comment on Steele’s remarks. But Dr. Robert P. Ghirelli, Water Quality Control Board director, said he was surprised by Steele’s assessment. Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), chairman of a state task force investigating contamination in Santa Moncia Bay, called Steele’s decision “strange and thoughtless.”

“What I would like to know is whether he has some higher priority than alerting people to the health risk associated with fish in the bay,” Hayden said. “I hope he will come to regret his words and do his job.”

Steele, however, said officials may have overreacted to the contamination studies conducted in 1980-81. In issuing its report last week, the Department of Health Services advised against eating any fish caught around the Whites Point sewage outfall near the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach Harbor and Cabrillo Pier in Los Angeles Harbor. Those are the areas of the two bays where toxic levels are highest.

The Department of Health Services also called on pregnant women and children to limit their intake to no more than one local sportfish per month, advised other fishermen to eat no more than two fish meals per week and said that fish livers should also be avoided. It also advised consumers not to eat any part of the white croaker or tom cod, the most abundant species of fish found in the bays. Commercial fish were excluded from the warning because most are caught farther out, away from the bays.

“Given the general process of living in this environment here in Los Angeles, this is not one of your high-priority problems,” Steele said. “People who live in Santa Monica and commute on the freeway face a much greater danger from exposure to asbestos and lead than they would ever get from eating sportfish.”

Steele, the top public health official in the county Department of Health Services, said he would consider changing his mind about ordering warnings posted if new studies should reveal that contamination levels have gotten worse than they were in 1980-81. He also said he might be persuaded to post warnings if the public controversy continues.

“We’ll do what we think needs to be done,” Steele said. “I do not intend to die on this cross.”

Responsibility With County

When it issued its report last week, the state Department of Health Services said the state Department of Fish and Game should post warnings. But Department of Fish and Game officials said that was not their role, and officials eventually agreed that the county Department of Health Services has the ultimate responsibility for posting warnings.

Steele, however, said his office traditionally takes such action only in cases where human lives are threatened. He said warnings are issued about the dangers of eating clams and mussels during certain seasons because “you can die from eating them.”

Hayden said the Board of Supervisors could overrule the county Department of Health Services and approve some type of warning. But the initial reaction was not good. A spokesman for Supervisor Deane Dana, who represents the coast area, said Dana has already decided that the warnings are unnecessary.