Michigan health officials are advising people not to eat fish found in several Livingston County lakes.
Toxicologist Brandon Reid with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says the Do Not Eat advisory includes all fish species along parts of the Huron River watershed in southeast Michigan.
“And that applies to a large stretch of the Huron River just upstream of Kent Lake in Oakland County, all the way down to where the Huron River crosses I-275 in Wayne County,” Reid said.
Reid says fish in this region were found to contain traces of the industrial chemical perfluoroctane sulfonate.
“Back in 2018, some companies that were discharging those chemicals as part of their operations that were eventually getting into the Huron River,” he said. “They don’t degrade very quickly and they stay in fish for a while before they’re excreted and degrade into other compounds.”
Reid says the state is working with a number of local environmental groups and recreational fishing businesses to spread the word about the advisory.
You can see a full list of affected lakes in Livingston County and other parts of Southeast Michigan here.