The farmed salmon industry has claimed that farmed salmon is safe to eat once per week but this is based on the FDA’s limits placed back in 1984. Since then scientific research has shown how PCBs build up in people and animals. Health risks from PCBs include immune system damage, fetal brain damage and cancer. Therefore, it is particularly important for pregnant women to monitor their salmon intake.
Six out of the seven farmed fish tested from Canada, the US and Iceland had PCBs so high they were not safe to eat less than once a month. One fish tested from Scotland was deemed by the EPA to be so polluted it was safe to eat only six times per year.
PCBs
PCBs are cancer-causing chemicals banned back in 1976. The United Nations Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants planned to have PCBs slated out and Bush signed his approval on this in 2001.
- Farmed salmon has 16 times the PCBs as wild salmon. They have 4 times the PCBs as beef and 3.4 times PCBs compared to other seafood.
- The salmon farming industry has grown and more people are eating it, but the fish are being fattened with contaminated fishmeal and oil. Salmon are purposely fattened up so that they will both weigh and cost more.
- Farmed fish have 52% more fat than wild salmon and the fat is where much of the concentrated PCBs are. The healthy omega3 fatty acids are also reduced in farmed salmon. According to USDA data, farmed salmon has 35% less omega3 fatty acids than wild salmon.
What can you do to reduce PCB intakes in salmon?
- Wild salmon in Alaska have the least PCBs so they are the healthiest salmon choice.
- Trim fat before cooking as the fat has higher concentrations of PCBs.
- Advised cooking methods are broiling, grilling and baking because these methods allow the fat to cook off.
Experts are predicting the salmon industry will continue growing but in the meantime, recommendations to help PCBs get under control are:
- Congress should increase funding to support the FDA in testing farmed salmon further. The results should then be publicized.
- The FDA should then issue an updated PCB health advisory for seafood.
- More measures should be made to preserve and promote wild salmon.
Because salmon is becoming more popular, the number of farmed salmon has increased. It is cheaper but not necessarily better for you. If stricter guidelines were enforced regarding PCB levels it would be better for the environment and people’s health.
Source: PCBs in Farmed Salmon, Environmental Working Group, 2003
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