With the Wednesday release of the Environmental Working Group's report
on the safety of farmed salmon, the bashing of salmon aquaculture
continues. The report was deceptive and misleading in my opinion. One
could readily see that the EWG report was just a page out of the David
Suzuki Foundation playbook and added no new science to the discussion.
It is clear that the David Suzuki Foundation is intent on eliminating
salmon farming from Canada at the expense of low income families that
depend on affordable seafoods that are rich in long-chain omega-3 fatty
acids, like farmed salmon and rainbow trout to name a couple.
Interestingly, at the Boston Seafood Show in March, I was told about an
'independent' study that was to be released in July about PCBs in farmed
salmon. The person relaying this information was from the David Suzuki
Foundation. When asked, she stated that the study, which had no
connection to Michael Easton (the author of the Chemosphere manuscript
which I have previously commented on in this listserve) or to the David
Suzuki Foundation, would show that PCB levels were elevated in farmed
salmon. When I asked her how she knew about this 'independent' data, she
became very quiet. During her presentation to reporters and chefs, she
stated that farmed salmon was lower in omega-3 fatty acids than wild
salmon. I shared data from the USDA nutrient database that showed just
the opposite was true. I was amused to see the statement in the EWG
report, "The fat in farmed salmon contains less healthy omega-3 fatty
acids and more harmful saturated fats than the fat in wild salmon."
While this is true, would it not make more sense to state that an 8
ounce portion of farmed Atlantic salmon will provide more omega-3 fatty
acids than an 8 ounce portion of wild Atlantic salmon? Or a more
accurate statement, "An 8 ounce serving of farmed Atlantic salmon will
provide 5 times the amount of EPA plus DHA as recommended by the
National Academy of Sciences for pregnant or nursing women".
After reading stories that appeared in the New York Times and the
Chicago Tribune, I am left wondering if the main goal of writers for
these respected papers is to sell newspapers. A properly researched
story would determine that the EWG report was non-scientific and
misleading. Unfortunately, such a finding would not help to sell
newspapers. Responsible media outlets quickly realized that the EWG
Report had little merit and that it did not rise to a sufficient level
to use ink, bandwidth or airwaves. I personally spent as much as 2 hours
in conversations with reporters from the NYT and the Tribune trying to
explain the obvious limitations and bias of the EWG report. I was
surprised to see that their printed stories lacked any semblance of
balance or perspective. After speaking with the reporter from the NY
Times for a second time, I sensed that a tabloid story was in the making
so, I submitted the following letter to the Editor of the NY Times (This
letter has not been published as of this posting):
"Salmon, whether farmed or wild, and farmed rainbow trout are excellent
sources of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids that are important for brain
development in the fetus and nursing infant. The amount of healthy fats
one obtains from a serving of farmed salmon is slightly higher than for
wild salmon but the difference is minor. These species are also low in
harmful contaminants, like mercury and PCBs, which are common in
recreationally caught fish and some commercial fish. The Environmental
Working Group (EWG) report, which has not been reviewed by independent
scientists, incorrectly uses a more conservative or lower allowable
limit for PCBs in fish. The main risk from PCBs in the diets of pregnant
or nursing women and young children is not due to the fact that they may
increase the risk of cancer but rather, that at higher levels, they may
result in developmental delays in the young. While a person consuming
farmed salmon weekly over a seventy year lifespan may slightly increase
their risk of cancer, the heart healthy benefits to maintaining a diet
rich in long chain omega-3 fatty acids far outweigh the risks. The EWG
report, which only tested 10 fish, analyzed 1 fish from Scotland which
had PCBs that were twice as high as the fish from Canada and the US and
six times higher than the fish from Chile. However, the report fails to
mention that the U.S. receives 56% of its farmed salmon from Chile, 31%
from Canada, 6% from domestic production and less than 7% from Europe
(which includes only a small amount from Scotland). The EWG report also
suggests that the consumption of farmed salmon is comparable to the
consumption of beef, pork and poultry in the US. Per capita consumption
of salmon is 2 pounds, while consumption of beef, pork and poultry is
191 pounds combined. Therefore, a person will receive more of their PCB
from foods other than farmed salmon.
The EWG report attempts to irresponsibly scare consumers away from
farmed salmon which is a safe and nutritious food. Unfortunately,
consumers scared away from farmed salmon are likely to reduce their fish
consumption or increase their consumption of fish that are higher in
mercury, like swordfish, shark, king mackerel or tuna-steaks. Both of
these alternatives will put the health of consumers at greater risk. The
importance of obtaining heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids, i.e., EPA and
DHA, should not be overlooked. Farmed salmon is affordable by low income
families and available year round, unlike wild salmon. It is time for
those groups that oppose salmon aquaculture to understand that their
actions are harming our children that depend on fish for healthy fats.
I do agree that the salmon industry needs to support independent
scientific assessments of the chemical composition of their products.
The industry should also evaluate future biotech crops that will contain
higher levels of long chain omega-3 fatty acids and offer an option to
harvesting of smaller species of ocean fish to produce feed."
Charles R. Santerre, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Foods and Nutrition, Purdue University
e-mail: santerre@purdue.edu
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