Fish is not the healthiest food choice after all

The information below comes from thegreenguide.com and was originally published in 2003. The article remains relevant and is reposted here as a quick reminder to the perils of eating sea food today. Concerns about chemical contaminants and heavy metals have only been on the increase so please consider what the article has to say and then use the resources provided to find more information relevant to yourself and your area. Not only are we killing the oceans with pollutants, the ocean is killing us right back on dinner plates each night. 2008 is the International Year of the Reef. Changing your sea food eating habits is one thing you can do at home to make a difference -- for the ocean and for the health of you and your family.



Fish would be the ideal healthy meal, rich as it is in protein and the omega 3 fatty acids that help prevent heart disease, were it not so often contaminated with industrial toxins or unsustainably harvested. Mercury, which can harm developing brains, plagues saltwater predators such as tilefish, swordfish and tuna (see list below). A study in the April Environmental Health Perspectives found that 89 percent of fish-eating subjects had blood mercury levels above * the safety threshold of 5 micrograms per liter; several showed symptoms of mercury poisoning, such as fatigue, decreased memory and joint pain. Jane Houlihan, research director at the Environmental Working Group (EWG), said “the FDA is providing women with inadequate advice on mercury levels in fish these days.” Houlihan adds that the FDA has done an uneven job of testing, and recommends the EPA’s more stringent set of mercury standards, which include where fish are caught.

Nor are farmed fish necessarily safer: A 2002 study showed that farmed salmon have consistently higher levels of PCBs (nervous-system toxins), organochlorine pesticides and PBDEs (see “Health News,” p. 6) than their wild cousins. Contamination among freshwater species comes in the form of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as dioxins, a known carcinogen, as well as PCBs. This list provided by thegreeenguide.com, gives the best and worst fish choices for human health and the environment.

Yes Fish (Low mercury, not overfished or farmed destructively)

• abalone (farmed)
• anchovies
• catfish (U.S. farmed)
• caviar (U.S. or French farmed)
• clams (farmed)
• crawfish
• herring
• hoki
• rainbow trout (farmed)
• salmon (wild Alaskan)
• sardines
• squid (Pacific)
• striped bass (farmed)
• sturgeon (farmed)

Sometimes Fish (Recovering populations and/or moderate mercury [M]; limit to once/month)

Arctic char (low mercury in sea-run char), blue crab (M, Gulf Coast), blue mussel (M), dungeness crab (M) , king crab (Alaskan), snow crab, cod (M, Pacific), flounder (Pacific), halibut (M, Alaskan), mahimahi (M), Eastern oyster (M), pollack (M), sablefish/black cod (M, bycatch), salmon (wild Pacific), sanddabs (a West Coast mini-flatfish; trawling has damaged habitat), scallops—(habitat damage), sole (Pacific), tilapia (farmed), tuna (M, canned).

* No Fish (Overfished, farmed destructively, high bycatch or moderate to high mercury)*

Bluefin tuna, caviar (Russian or Iranian from Caspian Sea), Chilean seabass (Patagonian toothfish), cod (Atlantic), king crab (imported), flounder (Atlantic), Great Lakes salmon, groupers, haddock, halibut (Atlantic), king mackerel, marlin, monkfish, orange roughy, oysters (Gulf Coast), pike, salmon (farmed or “Atlantic”), sharks, shrimp (every pound means 3 to 15 pounds of bycatch!), skate, snappers, soles (Atlantic), swordfish, tilefish (a.k.a. golden bass, golden snapper).

For contaminants, see ewg.org, epa.gov/mercury/fish.htm and check local advisories for polluted fish (www.map1.epa.gov).

Please download a wallet card at thegreenguide.com to take along next time you go shopping. Read detailed information about sea food choices from the Monterrey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Program (also provides a wallet guide) here.

Photographs courtesy of Maurice F., all rights reserved

Comments

[waqar]

Great work keep it up!!!!!!