News Story - Farmed Salmon Loaded with Chemicals, Study Finds

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Kelli Bever (kelli) has sent you a news article. (Email address has not been verified.)

 

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Thought Id forward this message after all the talk of omega-3 oils and eating fish. This isnt something we didnt know, though, right? Just as its imperative to eat organic produce, its imperative to eat wild-caught fish (if youre eating fish). Anything that they can contain and mess with is going to be bad!Kelli

 

Farmed Salmon Loaded with Chemicals, Study Finds

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Farmed Salmon Loaded with Chemicals, Study Finds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thu Jan 8, 1:59 PM ET

 

 

 

 

Add Health - Reuters to My

 

 

 

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

Farmed salmon contains far more

toxic chemicals than wild salmon -- high enough to suggest that

fish-eaters limit how much they eat, U.S. researchers said on

Thursday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reuters Photo

 

 

 

In Health Chronic HeartburnNeed Relief? More from Health: • Check Your Symptoms • How Is It Diagnosed? • Available Treatments

 

 

 

The culprit is "salmon chow" -- the feed given to the

captive fish, the researchers report in this week's issue of

the journal Science.

 

 

Many health experts urge people to eat fish such as salmon

because it contains healthy fats, especially the omega-3 fatty

acids that can lower the risk of heart disease and perhaps have

other health benefits, too.

 

 

But the researchers, as well as environmental groups, said

the findings in Science indicate that people should choose

their fish carefully. They should also demand that salmon be

clearly labeled to indicate whether it is farmed or wild so

they can make informed choices about which fish to eat.

 

 

The team at Indiana University, University at Albany,

Cornell University and elsewhere analyzed toxic contaminants in

700 farmed and wild salmon taken from markets in 16 cities in

Europe and North America.

 

 

"We think it's important for people who eat salmon to know

that farmed salmon have higher levels of toxins than wild

salmon from the open ocean," environmental affairs professor

Ronald Hites of Albany, who led the study, said in a statement.

 

 

They looked for 13 different chemicals known to build up in

the flesh of fish, including polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs,

dioxins, toxaphene, dieldrin, hexachlorobenzene, lindane,

heptachlor epoxide, cis-nonachlor, trans-nonachlor,

gamma-chlordane, alpha-chlordane, Mirex, endrin and DDT.

 

 

Some are pesticides, others are industrial by-products, and

many are known or suspected cancer-causing agents.

 

 

EAT ONCE A MONTH OR LESS

 

 

Farmed salmon taken from markets in Frankfurt, Edinburgh,

Paris, London, Oslo, Boston, San Francisco, and Toronto had the

highest levels, and the researchers said consumers should eat

no more than one-half to one meal of salmon per month. A meal

was eight ounces (one-quarter of a kg) of uncooked meat.

 

 

Farmed salmon from supermarkets in Los Angeles, Washington,

D.C., Seattle, Chicago, New York and Vancouver had toxins high

enough to suggest that people eat no more than two salmon meals

a month, based on Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) standards.

 

 

In contrast, it would be safe to eat up to eight meals a

month of wild salmon, they said. Other groups note that

walnuts, flaxseeds and other non-fish sources are rich in

omega-3s.

 

 

Many chemicals can build up in the body, staying for years

or even a lifetime. But the body also processes some out, so

experts can figure out a safe or acceptable level of intake.

 

 

The study fits in with other research on chemicals in

salmon. Two studies published in the journal Chemosphere last

year found elevated levels of PCBs, certain pesticides, and

flame retardants in farmed salmon.

 

 

And last year the Environmental Working Group said it found

elevated PCB levels in farmed salmon filets taken from 10 U.S.

grocery stores.

 

 

"This unquestionably large, new study strongly confirms

earlier research, and it leaves little room for the farmed fish

industry to argue away the problems of polluted farmed

seafood," the Environmental Working Group's Jane Houlihan said.

 

 

But Charles Santerre, a food and nutrition expert at

Indiana's Purdue University, said the study in fact showed that

farmed salmon is safe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The study demonstrates that farmed salmon is very low in

contaminants and meets or exceeds standards established by the

Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) and the World Health

Organization (news - web sites)," Santerre said in a statement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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