Press Releases

Sport fish advisory for San Bernardino County’s Silverwood Lake recommends eating rainbow trout and avoiding bass, bluegill, catfish, blackfish and tui chub from the reservoir. The recommendations are based on the levels of methylmercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in different fish species in the lake.

Statewide sport fish advisory recommends that women aged 18-45 and children under 18 should choose wild-caught rainbow trout and smaller brown trout over bass, carp, and larger brown trout caught in California’s lakes and reservoirs.

CalEnviroScreen 1.0 is a science-based tool that identifies the California communities most burdened by pollution from multiple sources and most vulnerable to its effects.

Guidelines for safe consumption of Striped Bass, White Sturgeon, and other fish advisories. This  advisory and guidelines balance the health benefits of eating wild-caught fish against the health risks from exposure to contaminants in them.

The PHG for chromium 6 reflects research documenting that young children and other sensitive subpopulations are more susceptible than the general population to health risks from exposure to carcinogens. The final PHG for hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium 6, is set at 0.02 parts per billion (ppb).

The 2011 advisory and guidelines for San Francisco Bay replace an earlier 1994 advisory, and draw on over a decade of more recent data showing San Francisco Bay fish contain mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).  They also incorporate nutrition science showing that fish provide dietary protein and essential nutrients, including Omega-3 fatty acids that promote heart health.

Draft public health goal (PHG) of 1 part per billion (ppb) for perchlorate in drinking water.

Revised draft public health goal (PHG) for hexavalent chromium in drinking water. This document revises an earlier draft issued in August 2009 that proposed a PHG of 0.06 ppb. The PHG will serve as guidance for the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) in developing the nation’s first drinking water standard specifically for chromium 6.

Higher temperatures send more Californians to the hospital for serious ailments, with each 10-degree rise linked to an increase of more than 400 percent in hospital admissions for heat stroke, according to a 2010 state study.

Several studies have shown links between exposure to air pollution or traffic and low birth weight, premature birth and birth defects. Researchers examining health-care data on nearly 5,000 pregnant women in California found that African-Americans were about three times more likely to miscarry if they lived within a half-block of a freeway or busy boulevard than if they resided near lighter traffic.