SEATTLE – A nationwide research program on seafood contamination is needed to help Americans choose the safest fish and shellfish rather than avoid them all and lose potential health benefits, three federal scientists say.
As proposed in the latest issue of Fisheries, published by the American Fisheries Society, the program would include an analysis of various species for chemicals and disease, reports on changes over time and assessments of health benefits weighed against the risks of contamination.
“Every single fish is going to have a level of contamination,” said Robert Duff, manager of the Washington state Ecology Department’s environmental assessment program. “You want to steer people to where the lowest levels of contamination are.”
Last week the federal government banned imports of Chinese farm-raised shrimp, eel, two kinds of catfish and dace after tests showed the presence of antibiotics and potentially carcinogenic anti-fungal drugs that are banned in the United States.
Washington state officials recently warned Seattle-area residents to limit meals of common carp from Lake Washington. Earlier warnings for the same large urban lake covered yellow perch, cutthroat trout and northern pikeminnow, once known as squawfish.
Last fall, health officials advised limiting meals of Puget Sound chinook salmon and resident immature chinook known as blackmouth to twice a month because of contamination with mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.
The research program would be tailored to produce uniform, easily understood information for consumers who want to know whether, for example, sockeye salmon from Puget Sound is less contaminated than chinook from Alaska.
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