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On July 20, ATSDR released a report on the agency's health consultation regarding the safety of eating land crabs from the Tanapag Village area of Saipan. The report evaluates the public health impact of exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from eating the crabs. ATSDR prepared the report on land crab contaminants at the request of the Department of Public Health (DPH) of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), after residents of Tanapag Village expressed concerns about possible contamination of land crabs from PCBs in sediment and soils. ATSDR will release a draft report on its public health assessment later this summer. ATSDR also released an exposure investigation report in April 2001.  

EPA analyzed a sampling of land crabs from the Tanapag Village area for the presence of PCBs and metals. Slightly elevated levels of PCBs were found in the sampled crabs, but within allowable limits set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A few crabs were tested for metals. Slightly elevated levels of iron, aluminum, and manganese were found in crabs from some harvesting areas, but at levels well below health concern.

ATSDR estimated the amount of exposure to PCBs from eating large amounts of land crab for many years. From a comparison of estimated exposures to conservative health guidelines and the toxicological and epidemiological literature, it appears that PCB exposure from eating land crabs is too low to result in harmful health effects, even to sensitive groups, such as children.

Although PCBs in Tanapag land crabs do not appear to be a public health hazard, people can be exposed to small amounts of PCBs from eating them. Because of gaps in the existing scientific knowledge about the health effects of exposure to PCBs, it is important to reduce exposure to PCBs when possible. As a precaution, ATSDR suggests that people who choose to eat land crabs, especially pregnant women, women of reproductive age, and families with small children, take steps to prepare and cook crabs to reduce PCB levels. This can be done by the following:

• remove and discard the liver from the crabs before cooking
• pre-cook crabs by boiling in water to reduce PCB levels
• drain and discard the cooking water containing PCBs
• use the pre-cooked crabs to prepare dishes in the usual manner

Copies of the ATSDR health consultation are available for review at the CNMI Department of Public Health Clinic in Tanapag, the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library in Susupe, and online here:

• Health Consultation: Evaluation of Land Crab Contamination
• Exposure Investigation - Tanapag Village, Saipan

Individuals who would like a copy or who have a question about the report, can contact ATSDR Toxicologist Scott Sudweeks, by phone at (404) 498-0309, by e-mail at ssudweeks@cdc.gov, or by mail at: ATSDR, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, Mailstop E-56, Atlanta, GA 30333.

See the ATSDR News Archive for previous news items.

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This page last updated on August 20, 2001

Contact Name: Maria Gosa/mjg4@cdc.gov

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