Despite finding high levels of a suspected carcinogen in fish in Back River six months ago, Maryland officials have failed to post signs warning people not to eat the fish - partly because they can't agree on how the signs should be worded.

Maryland Department of the Environment officials say they expect the signs to be posted by the end of the month. But the lapse has irked at least two environmental groups that want the warning signs posted on the popular eastern Baltimore County waterway, where people fish every day.

"What irritates me most is that they identified the problem and there was supposed to be some notification earlier," said Richard S. Hersey, executive director of the Herring Run Watershed Association. The group has been pushing for the signs since February, he said.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, one of the state's largest environmental groups, also expressed concern about the situation. "It alarms me because it is a horribly contaminated area," said Kimberly Coble, senior scientist for the foundation. "You have fish and people who are eating it."

The delay in posting the signs, department officials said, can be traced in part to Baltimore County, which is trying to agree with the state on proper wording for them. The department, which must post the signs, had the signs ready in April and showed them to the county, which recommended word changes.

"It's a matter of going through the proper channels to make sure the language is correct," said Joseph Beaman, a department toxicologist. "We're proceeding to get the signs up; we're going as fast as the bureaucracy will allow."

Baltimore County's problem with the wording of the signs is not clear.

The Herring Run group asked for a toxicology study last year after one of its members began donating as much as 2,000 pounds of fish a year to the Helping Up Mission in Baltimore, which feeds homeless people. The group wanted to be sure the fish were safe to eat. Herring Run meanders through East Baltimore and eastern Baltimore County before emptying into Back River.

The study was done in April 2001 by the department, and the results were released in January. It showed large amounts of PCBs in the five main species of fish in Back River. The concentrations were particularly high in carp, the study showed. It recommended against eating carp or four other fish: eel, catfish, bullhead and white perch.

The federal standard of 315 parts per billion is the threshold for PCB levels in fish, officials said. The Back River carp tested four to eight times higher than that, and the other four tested 1 1/2 to 2 times higher, officials said.

"They were fairly elevated to where we would recommend an advisory," Beaman said. The state posted the warning on its Web site at www.mde.state.md.us on Feb. 14 but never posted signs at the Back River's public fishing areas, marinas, docks or boat launches.

"If you don't happen to be a fisherman who goes to the Web site before you go fishing, you wouldn't know," Hersey said.

Back River has had a history of pollution. A month before the Herring Run study, a similar department study of several Maryland waterways, including Back River, detected mercury, DDT and the toxin chlordane in fish. No signs were posted then, either.

PCBs - polychlorinated biphenyls - are a probable carcinogen with proven effects such as skin irritation and liver damage. The chemical was used as an insulating fluid in electrical transformers until it was banned in 1977 by the government. It is not visible on fish in the form of lesions or scars.

The PCBs get into the water mostly from runoff, Beaman said. The chemical settles in sediment and worms, which are eaten by the fish. Carp are bottom feeders, so it's not surprising that the levels of PCBs in those in Back River are so high.

Hersey worries that the sign postings could be too late.

"We're deep into the fishing season," he said. "These are all good intentions, but sluggish government activity."

George Malone, the association member who delivered the fish to Helping Up Mission, said he was sorry he had to stop the practice. Malone was irritated that warning signs have yet to be posted.

"What's bothering me is that the information is there and it's not being distributed to the people that need to know," Malone said. "I don't want to give the fish away to people because it might harm them."

The Back River continues to be a popular fishing site, if a visit yesterday is typical.

"Nobody's posted signs anywhere, and there are folks fishing out there all the time," said Barbara Toomey, a bartender at The Riverside Inn on the Back River in Essex, which has a fishing pier out back.

At Cox's Point, one of the two public fishing areas on the Back River, dozens of people fish each day, casting lines off the piers. Many treat their catch differently, they said.

"We don't eat them, we just catch them," said Robert Wood Jr., 35, of Dundalk.

Diane Thomas, 35, of East Baltimore said she regularly eats the catfish and carp she pulls from the river. She said she would like to see the warning signs posted.

"Definitely," Thomas said. "This is the first I heard of it. I was not aware of it."

Dennis Moore, 33, of East Baltimore agreed.

"If there is something wrong with the fish, they should warn people," he said.

Louis Kih Jr., 28, of Southwest Baltimore said he is careful about cleaning the fish he catches from the river.

"I'm cautious about what I catch, and I examine it real good," Kih said. "But you see a lot of people catching them and throwing them right back."

State officials say they are moving as quickly as possible to post the signs.

"We'll have the MDE logo and the Baltimore County logo and when someone sees that, they'll know we're on the same page," Beaman said.