Concerns Raised Over Farmed Salmon
An excerpt from the Seattle P-I, January 9, 2004
People shouldn't eat farm-raised salmon more than once a month in most cases because the fish contain long-lived industrial chemicals that increase the risk of cancer, a major study concludes.
Wild salmon carry lower levels of PCBs, dioxins and other contaminants but also could present a cancer risk if eaten too often, according to the study released yesterday, the most comprehensive examination of the issue to date.
The scientists' findings were quickly assailed by fish farmers, state and federal government officials and nutrition experts. They faulted the study for focusing on long-term cancer risks while failing to take into account immediate benefits salmon provides for the circulatory system. Heart disease is the biggest killer of Americans.
Turning to other protein sources such as beef, critics warned, likely would prove less healthy than continuing to eat salmon.
Salmon raised in saltwater pens, which is priced much lower than its wild counterpart, is one of the fastest-growing segments of the food market. So the report being published today in the journal Science seems bound to perplex consumers who have been advised to increase their fish consumption.
"We hope it does not turn people away from fish," said David Carpenter, a University at Albany, N.Y., researcher and co-author of the study. "We hope it turns people away from farmed salmon."
The researchers tested more than two tons of salmon purchased from fish farms and supermarkets in Europe and North America, and from fishermen in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
The most contaminated salmon came from fish farms in Europe, followed by those on Canada's eastern coast. Washington's handful of fish farms showed contamination on par with that of the massive industry in Chile -- the lowest levels measured, while British Columbia fish farms showed mixed results.
Farmed fish, on average, showed a level of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, about seven times higher than that of wild fish. The average dioxin level in farm-raised salmon was 11 times higher than in wild salmon.
Continue reading on the Seattle P-I website:
Study warns of danger in eating farmed salmon
