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1168 Hwy 71S

Mena, AR 71953

Phone: 479-243-9600

Fax: 479-243-9603

Email: news@mypulsenews.com

KENA 104.1 - KQOR 105.3

MyPulseNews.com

Our Team:

Ashley Moore - General Manager

Ethan Nahté - Production Manager/Editor

Patrick Massey - Contributing Reporter

John Russell - Graphic Design

Josh Barker - Account Executive

Alexis James - Account Executive

Curt Teasdale - Programmer / On-Air Personality

Trey Youngdahl - Reporter / Photographer / On-Air Personality

Ariel Varner - Receptionist/On-Air Personality

Distribution & Insertion Staff:

Edward Werkhoven, Danielle Stewart & Chaz Welch

The Polk County Pulse is the area’s premiere and fastest growing news publication. The Polk County Pulse is FREE and published weekly on Wednesdays, with a distribution of 8,000 and an estimated readership of 10,000. MyPulseNews.com has hundreds of visitors daily and KENA and KQOR have thousands of listeners hourly.

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Letter to the Editor:

In an article in USA Today (1-17-2023) were warnings about eating locally caught fish and the dangers of contamination of PFOA (Polyfluoroakyl) and PFOS (Perfluooctane Sulfonate) chemicals. These are “Forever Chemicals” that do not break down in the environment.

The most common usage of these chemicals was in non-stick cookware, scotch guard fabric protector, Gore-Tex rain wear, firefighting foam, textiles, paper, and water repellent applications.

Among some of the health hazards are cancer causing properties, high blood pressure, liver damage, decreased vaccine response in children, and increased cholesterol, according to the CDC. Studies show that approximately 98% of Americans have traces of these substances in their blood at present. Traces have even been found in Polar bears.

Research by the EPA of 500 fillet samples from 44 species of fish across the nation from 2013 to 2015 showed levels of PFAS 280 times higher than commercially farm raised USA fish. PFOS were the highest detected of the PFOA compounds found in the fish samples.

Michigan issues Eat Safe Fish guidelines due to contamination by PCBs, Mercury, and PFAS compounds. Go to the Arkansas Department of Health website and you will find advisories on Mercury found in fish on Lake Ouachita. There are 20 bodies of water in our state with advisories. No advisories I found in Arkansas advised against consumption of all fish but did suggest serving size and frequency of consumption in some waters for some fish. I found no mention of PFOA or PFOS in Arkansas contaminates in our fisheries. The main contaminant in our fisheries was Mercury, and it was naturally occurring in most cases.

With the information now available it may be wise to do some research on your own and find if the areas you harvest fish from have any consumption warnings.

Oklahoma was not immune from advisories. My favorite lake is Broken Bow in Oklahoma and there was no advisory on sunfish or channel catfish. Bass species, walleye, flat head catfish, and crappie had advisories on the larger fish of those species but not the smaller. I suspect larger fish had consumed more toxic substances over time, and the cumulative effect rendered them suspect. My source was the Oklahoma Environmental Quality website for full details.

Sadly, there is no plan to remove the contaminants currently in our environment. Our best bet is to stop future additions or even worse, more dangerous chemicals.

It is not my intent to scare anyone, but rather to make you aware of potential dangers that may have you look closer at where you find the fish you consume. It is sad we have polluted our planet so badly that warnings are so abundant. Maybe time to get out that iron skillet grandma left you and catch a mess of fish from your farm pond.

As always, I thank you for a forum to express my thoughts, though we may not always agree.

With respect and kindest regards, Ronald Goss. retired, Mena

Want to share your opinion?

The Polk County Pulse welcomes letters to the Editor addressing any topic of interest to our readers. To be published, letters must not contain obscene or libelous language. Letters do not reflect the viewpoints or opinions of Pulse Multi-Media.

The letter must include a signature to be considered for publication. Signatures will NOT be held out by request. Letters will be restricted to 500 words. Any letters longer than 500 words will require purchase of advertising space.

The following contact information is required when the letter is submitted: NAME, AGE, ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER.

Letters are published at the discretion of the Editor and Publisher.

Letters may be submitted by e-mail to news@mypulsenews.com; mailed to P.O. Box 1450, Mena, AR 71953 or dropped off at 1168 Hwy. 71 South, Mena, AR. A drop-box is provided by the front door for after-hour convenience.

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