KTRV Fox 12 Idaho lifts Silver Creek mercury advisory
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Associated Press - December 1, 2009 8:44 PM ET
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - State officials are lifting a consumption advisory for trout from Silver Creek, a famous central Idaho fly-fishing stream, after learning that a 2007 laboratory calculation error resulted in overestimated mercury levels.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare said Tuesday the error at a U.S. Geological Survey lab in Wisconsin led to the agency's recommendation to limit eating brown trout caught in this spring-fed tributary of the Little Wood River.
Author Ernest Hemingway fished Silver Creek starting in 1939 - and thousands of anglers from around the globe follow in his footsteps annually to stalk its flighty brown, rainbow and brook trout.
The laboratory in Wisconsin conceded its error resulted in overestimates of mercury levels, but says it has since updated procedures to prevent repeat miscues.
Mercury is the most-common environmental contaminant absorbed by fish and can harm the developing nervous systems of young children and the fetuses of pregnant women.
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