Forwarded message
PCB CONTAMINATION, SALMON - 5 COUNTRIES
ProMED-mail promedmail.orgpromedmail.orgOpen ↗
International Society for Infectious Diseases isid.orgisid.orgOpen ↗
-Date: 30 Jul 2003 -From: Pablo Nart <[email hidden]> -Source: The New York Times, 30 Jul
2003 [edited]
Americans consume so much salmon these days -- most of it farmed -- that it is now the third
most popular fish in the country, after canned tuna and shrimp. It is one of those foods
nutritionists say is good for you, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says you can eat
as much of it as you like.
But a report released today by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental research
and advocacy organization, says that 10 samples of farmed salmon bought at markets on the East and
West Coasts were found to be contaminated with PCB's, or polychlorinated biphenyls, at an average
level far higher than any other protein source, including all other seafood. The high levels do NOT
exceed those set in 1984 by the FDA for commercially sold fish. But they are in excess of the
guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1999 for recreationally caught fish.
The salmon tested came from 5 countries, including Canada and the USA.
PCB's, an industrial byproduct identified as a probable human carcinogen, were banned by the USA in
1976. [If some of the contaminated salmon were produced in the USA, but PCB's have been banned there
for over 25 years, where is the contamination coming from? - Mod.JW]
The study has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal, but 2 previous peer-reviewed studies of
farmed salmon found similarly high levels of PCB's. Responding to the fresh findings, Dr. Terry
Troxell, a toxicologist in the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, (CFSAN) said, "Any
time we have a standard that goes back to the 70's and 80's, it's time to review it."
If consumers applied the findings to the environmental agency's 1999 guidelines, they might be wary
of eating farmed salmon more than once a month.
Farmed salmon accounts for 60 percent of the salmon consumed in the U.S. The EPA standards, which
are far stricter than those used by the FDA, are used by states to issue weekly consumption
advisories for recreational fishing. For example, New York State says that wild striped bass caught
in Jamaica Bay should be eaten no more than once a week, based on average levels of PCB's in the
fish. [Again, where are the PCB's in NY state waters coming from? -Mod.JW]
One sample in the farmed salmon study contained levels of PCB's so high that the EPA's advice would
be to eat it no more than once every 2 months. The remaining 9 samples tested exceeded the agency's
weekly recommendation. "Until we hear differently from the FDA, we would assume that theirs are the
regulations we need to follow," said Alex Trent, acting director of Salmon of the Americas, an
organization of 80 salmon farmers in the U.S., Canada and Chile. "We assume they know what they are
doing, and the regulations and levels they have promulgated mean that the food, including farmed
salmon, is safe, wholesome and nutritious. EPA and FDA should work out their differences."
A high-level EPA staff member said the environmental agency's recommendations "reflect the best
science available to make recommendations to states for setting fish advisories." The guidelines
will continue to be used, he said."
Kimberly Rawlings, a press officer for the FDA, said the FDA was considering updating its
guidelines. "We are clearly aware of it and actively looking at the science to see whether the
science dictates that it needs to be changed," she said.
The Environmental Working Group's study followed the analytical methods of the EPA, said Jane
Houlihan, the group's research director. Each sample of farmed salmon, bought with its skin on, was
cut into smaller pieces, ground up 3 times and mixed to homogenize the meat. A portion of the fish
tissue was then extracted and analyzed for PCB's.
3 previous studies of farmed salmon found similarly high levels of PCB's: a study conducted at the
University of Surrey in England of salmon bought in Scotland and Belgium and reported last year
[2002] in the Journal Environmental Science and Technology, which is peer- reviewed; a government
study for the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, reported in March 2002; and a study by Dr. Michael
Easton of International EcoGenInc in British Columbia, Canada, reported in 2002 in the journal
Chemosphere, also peer-reviewed.
The Easton study, and the one from the Environmental Working Group, found the level of PCB's in
farmed salmon in the USA and Canada 5 to 10 times higher than those in wild salmon. The average
levels of PCB's in wild salmon, according to the Environmental Working Group report, are about 5
parts per billion (ppb); in farmed salmon, they are about 27 ppb, far below the FDA levels of 2000
ppb. EPA guidelines say that if a person eats fish twice a week, it should contain no more than 4 to
6 ppb of PCB's.
The Environmental Working Group, based in Washington and financed by private foundations, used the
seafood industry's fish consumption data to report how many Americans regularly eat salmon. About 25
percent of Americans eat salmon, they say; 23.1 million eat it more than once a month, 1.3 million
people eat it once a week, and 180 000 eat it more than twice a week. From those figures, the
organization conducted what it says is the first cancer risk assessment of exposure to PCB's from
farmed salmon. The assessment estimates that 800 000 people face an increased lifetime cancer risk
of more than one in 10 000 from eating farmed salmon, and 10.4 million people face an increased
cancer risk exceeding one in 100 000.
Previous studies have shown that PCB levels in farmed salmon are higher than in wild salmon because
of the fish meal they are fed. The meal, made mostly from ground small fish, has high levels of fish
oil to fatten the salmon. PCB's concentrate in fats. An ounce of farmed salmon has 52 percent more
fat than an ounce of wild salmon, the Department of Agriculture says. In June
[2003], the National Academy of Sciences called for changes in fish farming and in human consumption
to reduce exposure to PCB's.
"When, and if, the FDA changes its limits, we will be the first to comply," Mr. Trent said. "They
haven't proven this point to the FDA yet. If they had, they would change their standards."
[Byline: Marian Burros]
--ProMED-mail <[email hidden]>
[see also: 1999
----
Dioxin & PCB contam., food - Belgium: update 19990729.1281 Dioxin & PCB contamination of food -
Germany 19990613.1010 Dioxin & PCB contamination of food - Belgium 19990610.0999 PCB toxicity, birds
- USA (Wisconsin): website 19990523.0856 PCB toxicity, birds - USA (Wisconsin) 19990515.0798]
...............................tg/pg/jw
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