February 9, 2004
NUTRITION NEWS FOCUS
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Today's Topic: Farmed Salmon Survey

Tremendous publicity was given recently to a new study that finds
farmed salmon has significantly more pollutants that wild caught
salmon.  However, the impact of the findings is less than clear.

Salmon farmed in Europe, North America, and Chile were compared with
fish caught in the wild from several North American locations.
Species tested included Pacific, coho, chinook, pink, and sockeye.
Hundreds of samples were analyzed, along with samples of fish feed,
and assayed for 14 organochlorine contaminants.  Salmon farmed in
Europe, specifically Scotland and the Faroe Islands, had the highest
contaminants while wild-caught fish had the lowest.  Salmon farmed
near Chile and Washington state had levels as low as the wild fish.
The study was published in the January 9, 2004 issue of Science.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: A news article accompanying
the research study pointed out the results are very controversial
because the amounts of pollutants found in any of the salmon are still
low and well within safety standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration.  But the Environmental Protection Agency's limit is
40 times lower!  The latter is what the authors used to make their
recommendation not to eat farmed salmon.  Even one of the authors of
the study was quoted that for people with heart disease, the benefit
of eating any salmon outweighs the risk.  He also said young girls and
women who could give birth should avoid farmed salmon.  This is an
excellent example of small, theoretical risks of cancer being used to
trumpet supposedly bad news even though the conclusion is not
justified.