State warns about eating fish from Henn. Co. lake
(AP) - The Minnesota Health Department is warning that people shouldn't eat too many fish from another Hennepin County lake due to contamination by perfluorochemicals.
The department said Friday that people shouldn't eat fish from Twin Lake in Robbinsdale and Crystal more than once a month. The department has issued similar warnings after PFCs were found in lakes Calhoun, Elmo and Johanna.
PFCs were first discovered in metro area lakes in 2007.
The chemicals were made by Maplewood-based 3M beginning in the 1940s for such household products as Scotchgard and Teflon. The company no longer makes the chemicals. PFCs have been used by numerous companies for a wide variety of products.
There are few studies of the health effects of PFCs on people, but studies by 3M of workers exposed to PFCs during manufacturing show no apparent problems.
However, laboratory studies have found high concentrations of PFCs caused changes in the liver and other organs of test animals.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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