Project Nears Completion
| The Great Lakes Fish Advisory study has now entered its fourth and final year of operation. Project researchers Dr. Robert Griffin (Marquette University), Dr. Sharon Dunwoody (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Dr. Kurt Neuwirth (CECS, University of Cincinnati) received funding from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to study peoples’ understanding of government-issued advisories for fish caught in the Great Lakes. | 
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Historically, a number of facilities have dumped manufacturing wastes directly into the Great Lakes. Water samples are found to contain harmful levels of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), a toxic industrial byproduct. PCBs remain active in the Great Lakes almost indefinitely, and over a period of time become concentrated in the fatty tissue of fish. When people catch and eat those fish, PCBs are transferred to the bodies of the human consumers.
During each of the past three years, some 400 Cleveland and Milwaukee residents were interviewed by the researchers in order to gauge their understanding of information about the risks of consuming fish caught in the Great Lakes. In the third year of the study, participants were given a specially designed brochure that contained information typically found in fish advisories.
The study is designed to clarify relationships among social trust in the institutions issuing fish advisories, risk judgments of individuals, emotional responses those individuals might have to information about hazards, and information processing styles. “All of the study elements are in place and we hope to demonstrate relationships between the kind of information processing most folks do, and what they think, feel, and how they behave when it comes to eating Great Lakes fish,” said Neuwirth.
The three Great Lakes Fish Advisory researchers are currently in the process of tabulating and analyzing the data generated by the project. A final report to ATSDR will be issued in late Fall of this year.
Last modified on May 24, 1999
