Is Gulf of Mexico seafood safe to eat?

Many people are asking this question, and seafood sales are down in the region. Some 15% to 25% of people surveyed are negative about seafood and worried about safety, the numbers vary depending on how the question is asked.

In response, the Florida Department of Agriculture

is now rolling out Florida Gulf Safe stickered logos to restaurants, retailers and seafood wholesalers. Some restaurants have already put the logo on menu inserts, and wholesalers can place the logo on their packages.

“This is not a certification program,” said May. “It means that, from everything we know, it is safe.”

But some fishermen have doubts about the safety of Gulf of Mexico seafood. Fishermen from 4 Gulf of Mexico states held a press conference recently to question what they believe is the premature re-opening of fishing grounds. They issued a press release that said:

"Gulf Coast fishermen do not want to sell tainted seafood but are being forced, by the premature opening of inland and gulf waters to commercial fishing, to choose between a clean gulf or their livelihood," according to a press release announcing the event. "Fishermen would rather work cleaning the severely damaged gulf than selling tainted seafood.
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Concerns over the safety of Gulf seafood deepened last week after crabbers in coastal Mississippi pulled up dozens of crabs with black-tainted gills—something they'd never seen before. Crabs are bottom feeders, so the presence of oil in their tissues suggests the pollution is now covering the sea floor."

There is a lot being done to ensure Gulf seafood is safe, but that's a difficult task. Testing and tracking everything that's caught is impossible, and the technology available sometimes come down to the good 'ol "sniff test" (does it smell like oil?)

Industry promoters believe that Gulf seafood is safe and the only threat is people being overly alarmed. They are mounting a photo-op type campaign in response, and planning to meet with Obama in Washington DC, bringing a 30 foot po' boy with a "bipartisan mix of shrimp and oysters.

There is more to come on this issue, I think it'll be around for years to come. Among other things, it's a confidence in government issue, and for those who attack the government as being "the enemy," we're all now living with the consequences of such attacks.

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Oil harms cleanup workers

News reports say that nearly all cleanup workers from the Exxon Valdez oil disaster are dead, and their life expectancy is 51 years.

Reports are circulating that BP oil disaster cleanup workers are suffering illnesses.

President Obama says in one of the video clips linked above that toxic chemical levels are not elevated in coastal communities but "that may not be the case" out where people are doing the cleanup work.

This mess is so bad we have to stay away from the contaminated area if we care for our health. OK, marine life, please evacuate if you care about your health.

...which reminds me, there's a scary new report out on toxics found in sperm whales world wide, stay tuned...

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guilt was never a part of it...

There's too much guilt in the non-profit world. Here's an exciting new charity that is turning heads with success in delivering clean water to poor people. Why? One reason seems to be the attitude of Scott Harrison, the founder of charity:water, a new group that helps deliver clean water to people who need it:

Guilt has never been part of it,” he said. “It’s excitement instead, presenting people with an opportunity — ‘you have an amazing chance to build a well!’ ”

It's an awesome story...build a well, save a child, build a movement...by turning off the faucet of guilt that is so popular among non-profits.

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Trouble on the beach

Wanna get sick? Go play on the beach in one of those cute little streams that flow down to the ocean, and play in sewage. Ugh. At least that's the story for some Oregon beaches.

The good news? Things are improving. People are looking into the problems and trying to track down the causes. In some cases, solutions have been found.

It's good to see problems acknowledged and progress made. But it's still sad to have to read about yuck in the pretty little streams that run across our beaches, they'll never look quite the same to me again after reading about massive bacterial contamination and toilet paper flowing across the beach. Ugh again.

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Drugs in water

Don't ask, don't tell seems to be the US approach to drugs in water. According to an AP story,

"U.S. manufacturers, including major drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water - contamination the federal government has consistently overlooked"

But don't worry, the concentrations are low enough that the drugs and drug-making chemicals are not a problem. At least, we dont' think they're a problem even though we don't really know because we're not monitoring.

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Canada beats US in fighting fish fraud

Responding quickly to the blogfish expose from a few hours ago (wink), Canadian government authorities today announced action to combat seafood fraud in a letter to seafood importers.

Showing productive leadership, a US-based seafood industry group praised the Canadian action and questioned a lack of action by the US government.

“We’re pleased to see CFIA taking such a thorough and proactive approach on the net weight issue,” said Lisa Weddig, Secretary of the Better Seafood Bureau. “At the same time we’re disappointed that our own Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has failed to recognize the importance of this issue and devote needed resources to it.”

Who is the Better Seafood Bureau? A seafood industry group dedicated to tackling the problem of fish fraud, in order to build consumer trust in seafood.

Way to go, guys. Now if we can only get the US government moving.

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Toxic pollution scandal from ships

Do you know what is the last virtually unregulated toxic pollution scandal in the US? Air pollution from big ships burning seriously dirty diesel fuel is causing 8,300 premature deaths in the US and Canada, and it's just now getting some regulatory attention.

If you live near a port in the state of Washington, then you breathe the most toxic are in the state. Worse than near a paper mill, a freeway, or an airport. Ugh. Air pollution from ships is a huge problem that needs a solution.

How lenient are the rules on big ships? According to the Seattle Times:

Unlike most diesel-powered vehicles, these ships have largely escaped regulation, partly because most are registered in other countries. As a result, large freighters often burn thick, syrupy oil filled with sulfur, a major contributor to toxic diesel soot. The fuel in these ships averages 27,000 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). By comparison, diesel trucks must use fuel with only 15 ppm.

Due in part to this dirty fuel, neighborhoods around ports had the most toxic air in Washington state, according to a 2006 Seattle Times analysis.

To me, it's a scandal that we've had to tolerate this situation until now. Is it really ok to allow 8,300 premature deaths, caused by ship fuel that's 2000 times dirtier than truck diesel fuel?

Finally, some action. A new proposal before the International Maritime Organization will reduce (not solve) the problem. Thank goodness for some action, and it's about time.

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Seafood is the scariest food.

According to this poll, seafood is the scariest food. Seafood is even a little worse than beef, and a lot worse than lettuce.

This is a problem for the seafood industry, and I hope it gets taken seriously in the future. Will we see moves to secure the future of seafood by improving regulations, including labeling, monitoring and enforcement?

Or will we let dead fish continue to be even scarier than live fish?

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Plastics are a penis-shrinker

Men, don't let your sons chew on plastic unless you want them to have a small penis. That's right, chewing the wrong kind of plastic (with phthalates) causes male babies to have smaller penises.

Do YOU want YOUR SON to be the subject of this kind of ridicule (above right)?

This has got to be the death knell for phthalates. Shrinky dinks and pacifiers are on their way out if they mess with America's manhood.

Dealing with bad plastic products is a macho issue now.

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Fish is good brain food

Eating fish is good for your brain. This is hardly news, but wait, there is something new...

In a recent study, eating seafood helped to protect people from aging-related brain decline. The effect seems to be prevention of unnoticed mini-strokes (silent brain infarcts for you medical nerds).

What does this mean? Loss of thinking skills (dementia) and other declines in brain function can be a serious problem in healthy older adults. Silent brain infarcts seem to be a cause of dementia, and it may help quite a bit to eat lots of fish.

Cowabunga, I knew I needed a reason to eat another Dungeness crab, after the 2 I had yesterday and today (with the smoked salmon chaser). That's right, it's crab season in the northwest, and if you're not lucky enough to get some crab, too bad for you. I want to protect my brain, so I guess I'll have to go back to Central Market in Poulsbo to get some more crab and salmon.

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Do you want plastic in your drinking water?

Who wants to mix plastic balls in your drinking water and then let the whole mess sit and percolate in the hot sun for weeks or months?

You do? Really? Well you can have this to drink every day if you move to LA. And...this plastic cocktail is touted as a solution to a chemical problem, sunlight reacting with water treatment chemicals to form bromate.

Is there a toxic contamination concern from this plastic soaking in drinking water and in the sunlight. There's a fascinating exchange at an LA Times blog on this, and the answers range from "yes" to "no." Read the comments to get the exchange.

Some commenters favor faith in government and others mention the high-density polyethylene and possible chemical problems from trace contaminants and sunlight-caused breakdown. Since HDPE seems to be a fairly safe plastic, my biggest question is what makes those balls black? That, and were they made in China?

Strange brew indeed. I'd prefer not to have plastic in my drinking water. Just for fun, check out the surreal video of 400,000 shade balls being dumped into the drinking water reservoir, thank goodness the workers are wearing hard hats, those balls look dangerous!

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The pipe dream of solving environmental problems

Try to imagine solving some of our serious environmental problems like CO2 emissions. Is it hard? Do the solutions seem impossible? Often it's a failure of imagination that limits us.

Do you believe me? Here's an example of an impractical pipe dream solution made real.

Suppose you're working on a serious human health crisis, caused by environmental contamination. And suppose further that a solution exists, but it requires creating a buried network of pipes that goes to everyone's home, and delivers an antidote to the disease. And the antidote has to be available 24/7, on demand. You propose this solution, and everyone laughs, and says move on to the next idea since your dream of pipes is just that, a pipe dream. Who could ever imagine getting all those pipes in place?

Well, you get the last laugh since the disease is diarrhea and dysentery and the pipe dream solution is our public water supply system, currently in place in much of the developed world. Impractical? Hardly.

So next time you're imagining a pipe dream solution to a big problem like, say, CO2 production and climate change, remember the dream of pipes that is now real in most of the developed world. If our forefathers can make that dream real, we can make our dreams real.

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Did you know you're drinking recycled water?

That's right, the water you drink has been used by someone else, and it's not all cleaned up.

So those hormones and blood pressure drugs and everything else that people take is coming atcha in your water. And if you're a man's man, it might just turn you into David Beckham. Except without the Spice Girl wife. And without the wicked kick.

What happens with the drugs we use to stay well, be happy, and avoid pregnancy? More and more, we're finding them in rivers and fish, and they create unique and unpleasant problems like "intersex" fish," with male AND female traits).

The latest news is that those drugs and hormones are in our drinking water, not just our rivers. It ain't just fish that gotta worry, it's us too.

Don't think that bottled water will save you, by now you should know that it's not necessarily any safer. It's often just tap water with an attitude.

All water is recycled, because we all live downstream from somebody. (Well, actually not me, but I did that on purpose.) That means you're drinking used water, and if you're really unlucky it's been used many times. Do you trust their sewage and septic systems?

Now there's a new concern in reusing water, our medicines, drugs, and yes, hormone pills.

The water cleanup we use is only designed to get rid of the major risks, and it works pretty well. Bugs that cause disease are mostly cleared from waste, and we mostly don't get sick. At least that's true in the wealthy world. But our cleanup doesn't get rid of everything.

So drink up! And drop me a comment if you're a manly man who's turning female, I might be able to tell you why.

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You get what you pay for, even in placebos

A 10-cent pill doesn't kill pain as well as a $2.50 pill, even when they are identical placebos, according to a provocative study by Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University.

People expect to pay for worthwhile medicine. And...since it works in medicine...it probably applies to conservation or any other problem-solving activity. OK, so everyone needs to send me money and then my work will seem more valuable?! Please email me and I'll let you know where to send cash, checks, and negotiable securities.

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Montana dam demolition

Another dam is coming down to help fish, this one in Montana. This one's not only about fish, however, it's for people too.

The Milltown dam will be demolished and the Milltown Reservoir will disappear. As part of the project, the Milltown Reservoir superfund site will be cleaned up. Hopefully, all of this work will allow native fish to repopulate the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot Rivers, and it will reduce arsenic contamination in drinking water near the reservoir area.

It's a fascinating story, the history of the dam and the problems in the reservoir. Mining waste flowed downstream and contaminated sediments in the reservoir, leading to poisoned wells. The solution, remove the dam, cleanup the reservoir, and restore a natural river with native fish. Expensive, but it's great to see that we're fixing this type of problem. We broke it, and now we're fixing it.

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Controversy over finding of high mercury in NY tuna sushi

High mercury levels are found in tuna sushi, says the NY Times. It's so bad that the FDA could take legal action to stop the sale of the fish. It's a story that strikes fear into the hearts of some seafood lovers and probably everyone who sells seafood.

The mercury in tuna story was the number one most emailed story that day, so people are taking notice. This follows on a recent report of high mercury levels in swordfish.

But wait. There's a controversy brewing. The New York Times, that bastion of high standards, now stands accused of egregious misconduct by the National Fisheries Institute, the people who bring you fish. NFI is a trade association that helps seafood venders sell more seafood. Who do we expect to be more objective and less biased here, the NY Times or the NFI?

The NFI is coming out firing both barrels at the Times. According ot their press release, "NFI will be demanding an explanation from Times editors for how these basic breaches in the newspaper’s own standards could have occurred and will also be requesting a formal correction on specific errors."

Judge for yourself...here's what was wrong with the story, according to the NFI (excerpts only)

- There is little if any acknowledgment or explanation of the widely accepted benefits associated with eating seafood...

- The sourcing found throughout the report is almost completely one-sided...sources consulted are (mostly) experts with clear self-interests and or (biased) activist groups

-...Burros chose to have her Sushi samples tested by Dr. Michael Gochfeld. As part of his own work Gochfeld treats patients for issues related to mercury.

-Kate Mahaffey from the EPA tells readers that a rise in blood mercury levels in this country “appears” to be related to Americans eating fish that are higher in mercury. This is pure speculation...

----Environmental Defense is a political activist group with scant expertise in the medical science of food consumption. Burros...describ(es) them disingenuously as “work[ing]…to improve human health.”

-Throughout the article there is a sensational mischaracterization of the RfD (reference dose)...

-In mentioning the levels of mercury found in the samples tested Burros fails to explain that the FDA’s “Action Level” is a calculated estimate that also includes a ten-fold safety factor.

Do the warnings matter to real people buying tuna? A follow-up story in the NY Times found customers buying the tuna sushi anyway, including at stores identified by name in the mercury article. Reactions from customers included:

“If I become iridescent from it, I become iridescent from it,” said one. “I’ll glow in the dark.” Another customer noted “You could worry about salmonella in the chicken, E. coli in the beef and pesticides in the fruit.”

Some customers were talking about reducing their tuna intake, but it didn't seem to like a big deal to many people.

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Mercury in 80% of swordfish exceeds FDA limits

Want mercury? A new study shows mercury in 80% of swordfish is above FDA action levels.

Results from the FDA are a little better, just under 50% of swordfish are over FDA action levels.

What does this mean for people who eat swordfish? If you're a pregnant or nursing woman, it would be very bad indeed to eat fish over FDA action levels, your baby's brain may not work like it should. Is this a real world problem? The CDC found that 6% of women of child-bearing age had elevated mercury levels that would put babies at risk.

If you're an adult, things aren't so bad, but Dr. Jane Hightower has studied real world patients with elevated mercury and found they weren't exactly happy about the mercury symptoms. However, once they cleaned up their diet, the symptoms disappeared. What symptoms? Nothing serious, just hair loss and problems with vision, coordination, hearing and speech.

So what's going to happen? Is the FDA going to remove swordfish from our grocery shelves? After all, isn't that what an "action level" means? FDA says this about "action level:"

Action levels and tolerances represent limits at or above which FDA will take legal action to remove products from the market.

Don't hold your breath waiting for the FDA to remove mercury-rich fish from our food supply. I guess by the time we find out there's a mercury problem, the swordfish has already been eaten so it can't come off the market. Bon Appetit.

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Think that red tuna is fresh? Maybe not.

Did you know that spoiled tuna (or beef) can still be bright red?

Meat sellers have learned that gassing meat with carbon monoxide can preserve a nice red color even after meat has spoiled. Compare spoiled meat with and without carbon monoxide after 8 days at room temperature, (see photo at left); the yucky brown meat didn't have CO and the pretty red spoiled meat had CO treatment.

Even your sushi is not safe. Some sushi restaurants sell carbon monoxide treated tuna, making it harder to judge freshness.

"People love the color of this stuff," (carbon monoxide treated tuna) said Jerry Bocchino, an owner of Pescatore in New York. "With fresh tuna, you're always racing the clock to keep the color and keep it from spoiling. And once it turns brown, no one wants to buy it."

Some people are upset and would like meat to turn brown when it spoils. This would make it easier for consumers to know when meat is still safe, since people rely on color to tell what's fresh.

The US Congress has gotten into this debate, and held a hearing in late 2007. At this hearing, it was revealed that meat company scientists questioned the validity of their own safety tests, but the Agriculture Dept. was remarkable sanguine. Meat company representatives suggested perhaps a warning label that says "color is not an accurate indicator of freshness."

Caveat emptor and all that. But check out this emptor in a video, saying he's a meat lover and he got fooled by carbon monoxide treated meat left at room temperature overnight. Yuck.

image: Washington Post

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YOU are probably contaminated with toxic pesticides

Bad news from Spain, every person in a new pesticide study was contaminated with toxic pesticides. That's 387 people, every one of them with toxic chemicals in their bodies.

Who cares? You should, because if it's happening to them it's probably happening to us. A quick search for information from where I live was not very reassuring, people in Washington are likely to be contaminated too. Here's more if you want to look at information relevant for you.

And if you think you don't mind a little spicy pesticide cocktail, consider this study showing pesticides increased the risk of getting Parkinson's disease. And this report by epidemiologists that concludes:

"current exposures are associated with risks to human health"

Wanna do something about it? Go visit with the good people from PAN, the Pesticide Action Network.

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Protecting people from contaminated seafood

Seafood safety will improve thanks to a US government program announced yesterday by President Bush.

This announcement grows out of the import scandals involving lead-contaminated toys, contaminated pet food, and contaminated feed for farmed fish, etc. Consumer confidence was shaken and action is likely.

The Bush administration has one plan, and Congress has some alternative options in mind, so the final shape of reforms is not yet clear.

One key action seems likely, giving the Food and Drug Administration the power to order mandatory recalls, which is much stronger than the current requirement for voluntary recalls. This should help get unsafe food products off the market quickly when they're identified.

Another important step will be to station US inspectors in foreign countries that export to the US, to look for problems before bad products reach the US.

How bad is the problem? According to ABC News reports, Alabama developed state inspections and now routinely rejects imported seafood that would otherwise reach consumers since US testing programs are currently inadequate. The National Fisheries Institute challenges these claims, and I don't know who's right.

Since we can't even be sure that species labels on fish are accurate, it's hard to believe that everthing's fine in the area of seafood reliability and safety. Some US seafood businesses that compete with imported seafood have testified before Congress regarding lax US inspections of imported seafood, much weaker than European inspection programs. I hope credible seafood businesses work within the industry to provide assurance to consumers that seafood sold in the US is safe to eat.

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