Posted by Larry Hoover on September 1, 2003, at 14:15:43
In reply to Re: Chart of omega 3 content in fish » Kacy, posted by tealady on August 31, 2003, at 18:53:20
> You just can't win
> http://www.mercola.com/2003/aug/2/pcbs_salmon.htm
>
>
> JanJan, my last contract position was with the World Wildlife Fund, and I focussed on a variety of POPs (persistent organic pollutants, such as DDT, PCBs, dioxins, etc.) and heavy metals (e.g. mercury, cadmium). There is no way to avoid these toxicants. They are everwhere. They are in every breath you take in (part of the dust and particulate matter), every mouthful of food you swallow, in your water.....
Some specific foods have undergone particular scrutiny, but that doesn't mean that those which have avoided scrutiny up till now are any safer.
One of the reasons that fish have received a high level of scrutiny is because scientists were trying to understand why people and animals living in the circumpolar regions were so massively contaminated with pollutants, despite the low level of human industrial activity in those regions. The answer lies in the fact that all of the POPs have non-zero vapour pressure. They may not evaporate quickly, but evaporate they do. With every wind arising in the temperate regions, the polar regions are exposed to the vapours. The problem is, it's cold in the polar region. The vapours condense out of the air, but it's too cold to revapourize them. So, it's like a one-way conveyor belt towards the poles.
Honestly, in my professional opinion as an environmental toxicologist, the health benefits from eating fish far outweigh the risks, except in unique cases where local pollution levels have caused a particular fish population to become especially contaminated. You won't find those fish available in your local market.
If you were to look at epidemiological data (I spend a fair amount of time doing just that), you'll find that fish eaters have better health than those who avoid fish. All the fish under consideration in these sorts of studies was polluted fish. You're healthier eating polluted fish than avoiding it altogether. I'm emphasizing that point, because *all* food is polluted. Just because you don't know that your cheese is polluted, and so on, doesn't mean that it isn't polluted. I happen to know that it is.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:252684
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030828/msgs/256138.html