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Study: Farm-raised salmon contains more PCBs than wild fish
NW Cable News ^ | 07/30/03 | Associated Press

Posted on 07/30/2003 1:24:17 PM PDT by bedolido

PORTLAND — Farm-raised salmon contains more cancer-causing PCBs than wild fish and other common foods, according to a report released Wednesday by a public health advocacy group.

The study, by the Environmental Working Group, tested 10 samples of farmed salmon bought in three U.S. cities, including Portland. Farmed salmon now makes up 80 percent of fresh salmon sold around the country.

Opinions differ about whether the risk of polychlorinated biphenyls outweighs health benefits of eating seafood.

The salmon tested by the Washington, D.C.-based group would be safe under U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards for fish sold in supermarkets.

The group applied newer limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The study concluded that consumers should not eat farmed salmon from some regions more than once a month.

An environmental agency spokesman said, however, that the agency’s tighter standards were designed to protect sport and subsistence fishermen who may eat contaminated fish as a steady diet.

Salmon farming advocates said the Environmental Working Group used the stricter EPA standard to confuse consumers who know the health benefits of salmon and other fish rich in Omega-3 fatty acids.

Resource Links Environmental Working Group

“If the public listened to this, our health would be negatively affected,” said Charles Santerre, a professor of food and nutrition at Purdue University. “Any small additional risk of cancer is far outweighed by the benefits of fatty acids in the fish.”

The report could boost demand for wild salmon from the Northwest. Last year, the United States imported more than 200,000 tons of salmon raised off the coasts of British Columbia, Chile and elsewhere.

The Environmental Working Group tested Canadian-grown salmon from two Fred Meyer stores and a Safeway in Portland. It also tested salmon from other countries bought at stores in San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Farmed salmon on average contained PCB concentrations of 27 parts per billion, while wild salmon averaged about 5 parts per billion, the Environmental Working Group report said.

Both fall well within the food and drug administration’s limits of 2,000 parts per billion.

But the EPA recommends against eating fish more than twice a week if it contains PCB levels greater than 6 parts per billion.

The long-term risk posed by PCBs in human diets is poorly known, experts say.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: environment; epa; farmraised; fda; fish; pcbs; salmon; study; wild
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Farmed salmon now makes up 80 percent of fresh salmon sold around the country.

1 posted on 07/30/2003 1:24:17 PM PDT by bedolido
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To: farmfriend
Ping! (I think)
2 posted on 07/30/2003 1:25:00 PM PDT by bedolido (Quitters Never Win! Winners Never Quit! But those who never win and never quit are idiots!)
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To: bedolido
Why? PVC pipe and tanks?

Strange.

(steely)

3 posted on 07/30/2003 1:30:41 PM PDT by Steely Tom
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To: Steely Tom
PVC pipe and tanks?

You're welcome.

4 posted on 07/30/2003 1:33:27 PM PDT by bedolido (Quitters Never Win! Winners Never Quit! But those who never win and never quit are idiots!)
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To: bedolido; AAABEST; Ace2U; Alamo-Girl; Alas; amom; AndreaZingg; Anonymous2; ApesForEvolution; ...
Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.

5 posted on 07/30/2003 1:56:22 PM PDT by farmfriend ( Isaiah 55:10,11)
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To: bedolido
I read about this report. 10 samples! That's supposed to be representative?

Two, I immediately want to know why farm-raised salmon would have higher PCB levels than wild salmon. PCBs increase in predatory fish because with each step up the food chain, the "food" has more contaminants in it. (Same goes for mercury.) So wild fish consuming wild food should have higher levels than farmed fish consuming feed.

NOW, in another thread I pointed out that farmed fish eat fish meal. So the first obvious thing to do is to test the fish meal for PCBs.

6 posted on 07/30/2003 1:59:00 PM PDT by cogitator
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To: Steely Tom
Er, ah, that would be PCB, not PVC.
7 posted on 07/30/2003 1:59:38 PM PDT by Cuttnhorse
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To: cogitator
This whole scare junk is the result of improvement in analytical techniques...it wasn't too long ago these small amounts would have been undetectible.
8 posted on 07/30/2003 2:01:20 PM PDT by Cuttnhorse
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To: bedolido
Grass finished cattle is high in Omega3 fatty acids. Cattle finished in feed lots with grain is high in Omega6 fatty acids and low in Omega3.

Algae fed (or predators on algae fed) fish are high in Omega3 fatty acids. Farm raised fish are high in whatever oils are fed to them. Increasingly, this is inexpensive Omega6 oils from grain.

Soon it will be difficult to find a reliable source of Omega3 oil.

Most canned tuna has any extra omega3 removed and omega6 added to retain taste - even water packed.
9 posted on 07/30/2003 2:04:47 PM PDT by rector seal
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To: bedolido
Last year, the United States imported more than 200,000 tons of salmon raised off the coasts of British Columbia, Chile and elsewhere.

Here in British Columbia, destroying the fish farming industry is now the #1 priority of environmentalists. They repeat the same distortions and outright lies ad infinitum no matter what the actual facts are. The worst offenders are Greenpeace and the David Suzuki Foundation.

10 posted on 07/30/2003 2:05:31 PM PDT by TheMole
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To: bedolido
I think it was National Geographic that ran a story on fish farming. Seems that fish farms hurt wild fish stocks because the farms are maintained in the same places where wild fish run. But because the fish farms have such high concentrations of fish, parasites and diseases are much harder to control. Farmed fish escape from the pens, spread these parasites and diseases to the wild stock; incidence of these are higher in areas where there are fish farms than when there are none. Also, escaped farm fish interbreed with wild fish to result in fish that are genetically inferior as far as wild survival adaptations go. There are definite problems with trying to maintain fences in the ocean as opposed to dry land, and while the low number of escapees is economically sustainable for the farmers (vs. the cost of tightening up the fences), it's ecologically harmful.
11 posted on 07/30/2003 2:05:51 PM PDT by RonF
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To: bedolido
I'm fixing salmon croquettes out of canned
Alaska pink salmon tonight. Is this wild salmon?
I've heard Alaska salmon is all wild. Help!
Someone answer before I have to start supper!!
12 posted on 07/30/2003 2:09:23 PM PDT by Twinkie
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To: TheMole
The enviros are trying to wreck the fish farming industry here in Chile as well. It is a fairly substantial industry in southern Chile.
13 posted on 07/30/2003 2:10:15 PM PDT by Cuttnhorse
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To: Twinkie
Someone answer before I have to start supper!!

It's the ol "Someone answer before I have to start dinner, ploy"


14 posted on 07/30/2003 2:11:02 PM PDT by bedolido (Quitters Never Win! Winners Never Quit! But those who never win and never quit are idiots!)
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To: Cuttnhorse
This whole scare junk is the result of improvement in analytical techniques...it wasn't too long ago these small amounts would have been undetectible.

True, but that doesn't mean small amounts won't hurt you. Mercury in particular is so nasty that it's a concern, particularly for nursing mothers, because if mercury transfers to the baby, with a small body mass, it can interfere with brain and nervous system development. I seem to remember that it's basic advice that pregnant or nursing mothers shouldn't eat Great Lakes fish because of the levels of mercury and PCBs.

I read the Washington Post article before I saw this posted on FR. Here's the article:

Report Suggests High PCB Levels in Farmed Salmon

We find in this article that only 7 out of the 10 samples tested had high PCB levels. That's why the statistical significance of only having 10 samples jumps right out. Test 100 samples, from 100 different farms, and then get back to us.

This article does say that the source of the PCBs is the fish meal. Which for me says: switch the farmed fish to vegetable protein! For one thing, it would substantially reduce the demand for the fish that are caught for fish meal, which are important to the whole ocean ecosystem.

15 posted on 07/30/2003 2:11:05 PM PDT by cogitator
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To: bedolido
Farmed salmon on average contained PCB concentrations of 27 parts per billion, while wild salmon averaged about 5 parts per billion, the Environmental Working Group report said.

Both fall well within the food and drug administration’s limits of 2,000 parts per billion.

But the EPA recommends against eating fish more than twice a week if it contains PCB levels greater than 6 parts per billion.

Whew, good thing the wild fish are just below the EPA threshold, huh.

I would have to eat 100 farm fish or 300 wild fish a week to get to the danger level. I don't foresee this happening anytime soon. (I don't like salmon)

This is nothing more than an attempt to cripple fish farms so we have to rely more on wild fish which we can't fish because of ESA/EPA/TBS (total BS). More bogus data to advance an environmental agenda.

16 posted on 07/30/2003 2:18:53 PM PDT by hattend
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To: cogitator
The long-term risk posed by PCBs in human diets is poorly known, experts say.

This is the most important sentence in the whole article. The article says 2,000 ppb is considered acceptable, but these numbers are in the less than 30 ppb range. So what is correct??

More scare stuff to a population that is so chemistry-challenged it doesn't know the difference between a PCB and a PVC sewer pipe.

17 posted on 07/30/2003 2:23:27 PM PDT by Cuttnhorse
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To: Twinkie
I'm fixing salmon croquettes out of canned Alaska pink salmon tonight.

EAT BEEF, THE WEST WASN'T WON ON SALMON CROQUETTES

18 posted on 07/30/2003 2:29:41 PM PDT by Cuttnhorse
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To: Cuttnhorse; Twinkie
I concur. Eat beef. Lots of things you can do with beef. Lots of cuts of beef. Yum. It's what's for dinner. Except, we're having pork chops tonight...
19 posted on 07/30/2003 2:34:57 PM PDT by .38sw
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To: .38sw
Hi 38er,

I'm having whatever the maid fixes up...the little wifey is still in the US. Hope the domestic slave isn't fixing fish!
20 posted on 07/30/2003 2:41:34 PM PDT by Cuttnhorse
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