travel, hotel and booking Information

Hotel Booking Pollution originating from a Superfund site on the Passaic River has contaminated shellfish well beyond the immediate environs of Newark Bay, according to a study by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

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Travel Agency Some tissue samples showed high levels of dioxins and furans in blue crabs in New York Harbor, Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay, and in American lobsters as far south as Point Pleasant.

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Cheap Hotel Blue crabs showed the higher level of contaminants, according to the report, prepared in 2002 by a team of DEP researchers.

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Flight Booking "I was shocked to see how contaminated the blue crabs are" in the New Jersey tests, said Desmond Kahn, a biometrician who studies the animals for the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife. Researchers used crabs from the Delaware Bay, which are free of dioxin and furans, as a control group.

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Travel Agent While the state has long banned the consumption of crabs and fish from the Passaic River and Newark Bay, it has only suggested limits on consumption of crabs from the Raritan River and Raritan Bay. Some environmentalists say the state's advisories aren't stringent enough.

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Hotel Chicago "The advisories should be consistent for the entire area," said Robert Spiegel, executive director of the Edison Wetlands Association. "If you have crabs moving out of Newark Bay, people shouldn't eat them wherever they're caught."

Online Booking State DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell, however, said he believes the advisories are "sufficiently protective."

Travel Health Insurance "They take into account the chance of catching contaminated crabs" outside the Newark Bay, Campbell said.

Hotel Reservation The state health advisories that suggest crabs and lobsters can be eaten safely are based on the removal of the hepatopancreas, which combines functions of the liver and the pancreas and is where contaminants are concentrated. Campbell, however, acknowledged that crabs are routinely boiled whole.

London Hotel Booking HUNT FOR DIOXIN

Discount Travel After dioxin-contaminated soil was discovered at Diamond Shamrock in 1984, samples were taken both upstream to the head of the tide in the Passaic River, and downstream into the Newark Bay and beyond, according to the DEP report.

Orlando Hotel "Sixty percent of the sediments sampled from the river, adjacent to the (Diamond Shamrock) facility showed detectable levels" of the dioxin created in the pesticide manufacturing process, the report said.

Booking Agency "The dioxins have a specific chemical fingerprint," said Kristen Milligan, a staff scientist for Clean Ocean Action of Sandy Hook. "There are many different types of dioxin, and these can be traced to Diamond Shamrock."

International Travel Medical The plant manufactured Agent Orange, the deadly herbicide that Americans sprayed and dumped on Vietnam in the millions of gallons. Runoff from the plant contaminated the Passaic, where problems persist.

New York Hotel Since the pollution was discovered, researchers have intermittently sampled crabs and lobsters over the years from waters all the way from the Passaic River to Point Pleasant. In re-analyzing data collected over the years, the researchers found that some animals far from Newark Bay showed high levels of contaminants.

Online Travel Booking "There's no way of distinguishing where the animals are from based on where you pull them out of the water," said Bruce Ruppel, another of the researchers who have periodically studied the issue since pollution was discovered in 1983 at the former Diamond Shamrock plant site in Newark.

Travel Medical Insurance While blue crabs typically have limited ranges, some from the Newark Bay to find their way into the Arthur Kill, the Raritan River and nearby waters.

Miami Hotel "Those estuaries are interconnected," Kahn said. "An animal can readily move through that entire system."

Air Deccan Booking Tissue samples from 1986 found levels of contamination in blue crabs "at the seaward limit of their migratory range were similar to levels found within Newark Bay in 1983," according to the DEP report.

Las Vegas Nevada Travel Similar samples taken from 1991 to 1993 from crabs in Newark Bay found high levels in the muscle tissues and hepatopancreas. But crabs caught in Raritan and Sandy Hook bays and off Wards Point had detectable levels only in the hepatopancreas.

Las Vegas Nv Hotel Following the sampling in the early 1990s, researchers called for removal of the hepatopancreas before cooking in crabs caught in the Raritan and Sandy Hook bays.

Hotel Florence Booking Online ADVISORIES IGNORED

Orlando Travel When all tissues were included, included the hepatopancreas, a majority of the crabs cited in the 2002 report tested positive for dioxin and furan, with a mean level of 80 picograms per gram of tissue in animals taken from the Raritan Bay and lower Hudson River, according to the report. A picogram is one-trillionth of a gram, and the Food and Drug Administration's recommended no consumption level is 50 picograms of the chemicals.

Hilton Hotel "To the extent that people disregard or fail to heed or read our advisories, we can't absolutely protect them from exposure," Campbell said.

Booking Delta Com He pointed out the advisories and cooking advice are posted on the DEP's Web site, albeit from a link with a photo of a happy fisherman and the slogan, "Fishing in New Jersey. It's never been better!!!"

Travel Insurance Online In American lobsters, the study found overall lower levels of contaminants, but larger variations depending on location and time of year. This likely stems from the migratory habits of the various groups of lobsters, according to the study.

London Hotel Many lobster populations suffer from overfishing, but those that survive can live up to 50 years, said Mike Fogarty of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Mass. Older, larger animals tend to travel farther away from the coast, but females typically return to shallower waters to lay eggs, he said.

Online Hotel Booking "Everything from PCBs to heavy metals have been a real area of concern" for accumulation in the animals, but the contamination is again concentrated in the hepatopancreas, he said. It is larger and more readily identifiable for removal than in crabs.

Travel Insurance Like many other states, New Jersey advises consumers not to eat the hepatopancreas of lobsters.

Paris Hotel The DEP has a plan for a five-year study, taking samples seasonally throughout the waters, said Marty Rosen, director of the science, research and technology division.

Airline Booking "We're looking at various funding sources," but it has been difficult to cover the estimated $100,000 cost, part of an intended $250,000 statewide effort, he said.

Travel Trailer Campbell initially said he would ask the polluting companies to finance new sampling, but earlier this month changed this to say that he would provide even more money, $300,000, in state funds "and seek reimbursement" from the firms.

San Francisco Hotel By Joe Tyrrell
Star-Ledger - 2/1/2004

Topic: SuperFund

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