The lack of proper public education and inadequate
labeling of fish continues to be a major public health
risk worldwide. Most food manufacturers, grocery chains
and big box stores refuse to, or are not required
to properly label their fish as farmed or wild. That's
likely because the public is largely unaware of the
dangers associated with cheap, high profit farmed
fish that is so abundant in the conventional food
supply. If you love fish, at what cost does this come
to your health, and how can you protect yourself and
your family?
Farm-raised
salmon contain significantly more dioxins and
other potentially cancer-causing pollutants than do
salmon caught in the wild, says a major study that
tested contaminants in fish bought around the world.
Salmon farmed in Northern Europe had the most contaminants,
followed by North America and Chile. The study blames
the feed used on fish farms for concentrating the
ocean pollutants.
Eating more than a meal of farm-raised salmon per
month, depending on its country of origin, could slightly
increase the risk of getting cancer
later in life, researchers conclude. The study urged
consumers to buy wild salmon and recommend that farmers
change fish feed.
'The debate is sure to confuse consumers, who long
have been told to eat fish at least twice a week because
it helps prevent heart disease. Indeed, salmon
is usually listed as a top choice because it is particularly
high in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids and low
in a completely different seafood contaminant, mercury.
The average dioxin level in farmed-raised salmon was
as 11 times higher than that in wild salmon - 1.88
parts per billion compared with 0.17 ppb. For PCBs,
the average was 36.6 ppb in farm-raised salmon and
4.75 in wild salmon.
Most governments do not have one set level of dioxins
and PCBs that is considered safe in foods.
"We are certainly not telling people not to eat fish.
... We're telling them to eat less farmed salmon,"
said David Carpenter of the University at Albany,
N.Y., who tested 700 salmon from around the world.
Farmed salmon eat lots of fish oil and meal made from
just a few species of ocean fish, which concentrates
the contaminants they are exposed to, while wild salmon
eat a greater variety, Carpenter explained.
Raising salmon in floating pens is an industry that
began just two decades ago but has helped the fish's
popularity to soar, turning it from a seasonal to
a year-round commodity. More than half the world's
salmon now is farmed. Farm-raised salmon sells for
about $4 or $5 a pound compared with $15 for wild
salmon, said Alex Trent of the trade group Salmon
of the Americas.
"These fish don't have to be contaminated," said Jane
Houlihan of the Environmental Working Group, which
wants salmon farms to switch the feed they use.
Trent said many farmers in the United States, Canada
and Chile are slowly replacing some of the fish oil
in salmon feed with soybean and canola oil to address
the pollutants.
"This hardly addresses the issue" said public
health and research specialist Marco Torres. "We
know that the majority of soy
in the world is now genetically
modified, which alone presents tremendous long-term
health implications" he added. "Canola oil
comes from the rape seed plant, which is one of the
most toxic of all food-oil plants, so introducing
this unnatural oil to farmed fish diets is simply
irresponsible. They are not addressing the issue of
increased toxins in farmed fish, they are only side-stepping
to try and maintain an unhealthy industry that needs
much stricter regulations and guidelines" he
concluded.
Farm-raised salmon contained significantly higher
concentrations of 13 pollutants, including dioxins,
released when industrial waste is burned, and PCBs,
once widely used as insulating material, according
to the study.
Animals absorb those pollutants through the environment,
storing them in fat that people then eat. High levels
are believed to increase the risk of certain cancers
and, in pregnant or breast-feeding women, harm the
developing brains of fetuses and infants.
Nutritionist Alice Lichtenstein stated "this was a
beautiful study" that does raise a concern that needs
more attention. "The bottom-line message is to continue
to eat fish but consume a variety of different types."
"When you fail to label (products) the consumer
doesn't have an opportunity to consider the controversy
over the safety of these chemicals," said Knoll
Lowney, an attorney representing consumers who've
taken three giant supermarket chains to court for
not telling them and others how some of their salmon
is raised.. "It's unfair, it's deceptive and
it's against the law."
Fish farmers, the suit notes, artificially color their
products by including the two chemicals in the food
that the fish eat. The practice is done, the suit
says, to produce more readily marketable fish flesh,
because many consumers won't buy the fish if they
don't have that traditional color.
Farmed fish, the suit says, would have gray flesh
were it not for the artificial additives, because
they don't get to eat other creatures like shrimp
and krill containing the chemicals that give salmon
their pinkish hue.
The Environmental Impacts of Fish Farming Include:
1. Farmed fish are grown in floating netcages and impact wild fish and other marine species by spreading sea lice, disease and parasites.
2. Farmed fish are given antibiotics, other drugs
and pesticides. The drug-laden wastes from surplus
food and feces pollute the marine environment and
cause marine mammal deaths and waste build up.
3. The introduction of exotic species is extremely
harmful to local ecosystems, causing algae blooms
and is one of the greatest threats to nature.
4. Farmed fish escape from their netcagesoften
by the thousandsand can displace fragile wild
stocks from their habitat.
Human Health & Economic Impacts of Fish Farming
Include:
1. Farmed fish receive more antibiotics by weight
than any other livestock. The are given the same antibiotics
that used to treat human illness. This contributes
to the dangerous increase of antibiotic-resistant
disease worldwide.
2. Farmed fish contain higher levels of unhealthy
saturated fats and lower levels of beneficial omega-3
fatty acids. A U.S. Agriculture Department study
found farmed Atlantic salmon contain 70 percent more
fat than wild Atlantic salmon because of the high
fat content in their feed. Farmed Atlantic salmon
contain 200 percent more fat than wild Pacific pink
or chum salmon.
3. Thousands of jobs depend on the health of wild
fish and all the species the fish support. It is essential
that politicians and citizens also give serious consideration
to the jobs that are put at risk by the fish farming
industrys current destructive practices.
Salmon Farm Facts
- A salmon farm is likely to hold 500,000 to 750,000
fish in an area the size of four football fields
- The biomass of farmed salmon at one farm site can
equal 480 Indian bull elephants - that is 2,400 tonnes
of eating, excreting livestock
- Salmon are carnivores. On average it takes two to
five kilograms of wild fish (used in feed) to produce
one kilogram of farmed salmon
- In one study, over a billion sea lice eggs were
produced by just twelve farms in a two week period
preceding the out-migration of wild juvenile salmon.
- Infection with one to three sea lice can kill a
wild juvenile pink salmon.
- Canada and Chile are the two primary sources of
farmed salmon for American consumers.
- Two-thirds of the salmon consumed by Americans is
farm-raised.
Creutzfeldt Jakob disease
Three U.S. scientists are concern about the potential
of people contracting Creutzfeldt Jakob disease --
the human form of "mad cow disease" -- from
eating farmed fish who are fed byproducts rendered
from cows.
Mad cow disease, also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a fatal brain disease in cattle, which scientists believe can cause Creutzfeldt Jakob disease in humans who eat infected cow parts. The infectious particles eat away at the brain, leaving tiny sponge-like holes. There is no treatment available and death always follows.
In the latest issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Dr. Robert P. Friedland, a neurologist at University of Louisville in Kentucky and colleagues suggest that farmed fish fed contaminated cow parts could transmit Creutzfeldt Jakob disease.
The scientists want government regulators to ban
feeding cow meat or bone meal to fish until the safety
of this common practice can be confirmed.
Is Wild Fish Healthier and Safer Than Farmed Fish?
Species, season, diet, location, lifestage and
age have a major impact on both the nutrient and contaminant
levels of fish. These levels vary broadly within species
and between species in both wild and farmed fish.
There is a need for standardisation of sampling procedures
before a robust comparison of wild and farmed fish
can be made.
From the limited data available it seems that there
are differences between farmed and wild fish. Although
wild fish do not have the same levels of PCB toxins
as farmed fish, many wild species still have PCBs
and also levels of bisphenol-A
(BPA) from the plastic
polluion destroying the ocean. BPA is a well established
toxin to humans linked to cardiovascular disease,
type 2 diabetes and a hormone/enzyme disruptor.
What To Do
Due to the toxic loads associated with most species
of fish, both from wild and farmed sources, the healthiest
choice these days may be to avoid fish entirely or
minimize consumption to once a month at most. You
can calculate
your mercury load here.
If omega-3 fatty acids are a concern, you can always
supplement with non-fish sources such as flax or superior
more effective varieties such as mussels (i.e. Moxxor).
Avoid buying any type of fish from major conventional
grocers that do not label their fish (whether farmed
or wild). If you cannot trace the source, don't buy
it. The following list of grocers either do not label
their fish or do not regulate their farmed fish sources,
meaning they could be loaded with PCBs and antibiotics
from unregulated fish farms.
Major U.S. Supermarket Chains To Avoid:
1. Aldi
2. Costco
3. Delhaize Group (i.e. Bloom, Food Lion, Harveys,
Sweetbay)
4. Kroger (i.e. Dillion's, Food 4 Less, Jay C, QFC,
Ralphs, Smiths)
5. Piggly Wiggly
6. Safeway (i.e. Carrs, Dominick's, Genuardi's, Pavilions,
Randalls)
7. SuperValu (i.e. Acme, Bigg's, Bristol Farms, Cub
Foods, Shaw's)
8. Wal-Mart Supercenters (Marketside, Sam's Club)
Major Canadian Supermarket Chains To Avoid:
1. Loblaws (i.e. Atlantic, Maxi, No Frills, SuperValu,
Valu-mart, Zehrs)
2. Costco
3. Metro (i.e. A&P, Food Basics, Loeb, Super C)
4. Safeway
5. Sobeys (i.e. Foodland, IGA, Price Chopper)
5. Jim Pattison Group (i.e. Overwaitea Foods, Save-On
Foods)
Whole Foods Market operates in hundreds of locations
in the U.S., Canada and UK. According to their policy,
they do regulate their farmed fish sources and do
not allow PCBs, antibiotics or other toxic chemicals
in their farmed fish.
Do You Really Want To Eat Fish From Foreign Lands?