Eat Your Salmon - Wall Street Journal, February 11, 2004
Staying out of the sun and quitting smoking are both good ideas. But now
some scaremongers want to add salmon to the list of things we all should
avoid to reduce our risk of cancer.
Yes, salmon. The heart-healthy fish that's also supposed to make you
smarter stands accused of causing cancer. A study published in Science
magazine last month says that salmon raised on farms in the U.S. and
Europe has higher levels of pollutants than salmon caught in the wild.
It recommends eating farmed salmon just once a month.
There are a number of fishy things about this study, starting with the
fact that the proven health benefits of eating salmon far outweigh the
risk of cancer. In response to the report, the Food and Drug
Administration says that "consumers need not alter consumption of farmed
or wild salmon at this point in time." Britain's food watchdog agency
also rose to salmon's defense, saying the levels of pollutants reported
in the study are within internationally recognized safety limits.
The Science study found trace amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs) in farm-raised salmon. But PCBs aren't proven human carcinogens.
Long-term studies of factory workers exposed to high levels of PCBs show
that there is no increase in the incidence of cancer. Moreover,
contaminant levels in salmon have gone down 90% in the past 30 years.
But even if PCBs were a danger, they wouldn't pose a threat in the
quantities in which they are found in farm-raised salmon. The Science
study found the concentration of PCBs to be 1.8% of the level the FDA
finds tolerable -- an average of 36.6 parts per billion compared with
2,000 parts per billion in the FDA's guidelines. Put this in
perspective: If a person eats eight ounces of farmed salmon every week
for 70 years, the PCBs would increase his cancer risk by one in 100,000,
the Environmental Protection Agency says.
Avoiding salmon can actually be bad for public health. Salmon is packed
with omega-3 fatty acids, which are proven to reduce heart attacks.
Studies indicate that the omega-3 in salmon may also be vital to brain
development in young children and fetuses, help fight Alzheimer's, and
help prevent breast cancer.
The Science study has had one predictable effect. Two environmental
groups in California this month announced their intention to sue 50
companies in the U.S., Canada and Europe -- from salmon farms to grocery
giants Safeway and Albertsons. The Environmental Working Group and the
Center for Environmental Health plan to bring suit under a state law
requiring companies to alert customers if their products contain
dangerous levels of chemicals known to cause cancer. These groups can't
win their battles on the scientific merits in Congress, or even in such
friendly bureaucracies as the EPA, so they are increasingly turning to
the courts.
Now that salmon has been discovered by greens and trial lawyers, who
knows what kind of wild ride we're in for. But one thing is clear: The
latest salmon scare isn't about nutrition or food safety.
Updated February 11, 2004
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB107645819436426263-IJjgINilaZ3n
JyqZXSHa6aEm5,00.html
Charles R. Santerre, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Foods and Nutrition
Purdue University
National Spokesperson, Institute of Food Technologists
Stone Hall, Rm. 205
700 W. State St.
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2059
phone: 765/496-3443
fax: 765/494-0674
e-mail: santerre@purdue.edu
http://fn.cfs.purdue.edu/santerre/
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