Junk Science: Salmon Scare

Junk Science: Salmon Scare

FOXNews.com - Views - Junk Science - Eco-Extremism, Not Science, Behind Fishy Salmon Scare

“The potential risks of eating contaminated farmed salmon have not been well evaluated. Three previous studies reporting contaminants in salmon are inconclusive because of their very small sample sizes and narrow geographic representation. As a result, the extent of this problem and potential risks to human health remain unclear,” the study’s authors wrote.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see how one gets a scary headline out of a study with that disclaimer.

In fact, there has never been a single health effect associated with consumption of farmed salmon (search) despite countless people eating millions of tons of it over the last 20 years. That’s no surprise since PCBs, dioxins and the other so-called “contaminants” considered in the study have never been scientifically shown to cause harm in humans at typical exposure levels.

Moreover, PCB levels found in commercial fish are well within the hyper-safe levels set by the Food and Drug Administration and have been declining for some time. FDA testing in 1989 indicated an average level of PCBs in salmon of about 0.39 parts per million. Last week’s study reported PCB levels about 20 times lower. . . .

David Carpenter, the study leader who gave many interviews to the media last week, has crusaded against PCBs for years. From the Hudson River-General Electric controversy to the Anniston, Ala. –Monsanto controversy, Carpenter has consistently tried to foment panic about PCBs. He’s a well-known health-scare hyperventilator who likes to masquerade as an impartial “expert” from the University of Albany’s Institute for Health and the Environment. . . .

The larger context here is that Pew opposes, and is doing what it can to stop, fish farming ¯ including giving Carpenter $2.5 million for his “study.”

Toward its goal of ending fish farming, Pew carps that farmed fish can escape and breed with wild fish, supposedly producing young fish that are less fit for survival in the wild. (There’s been no evidence of this despite some large escapes.)

Pew claims that waste from farmed fish result in undesirable nitrogen and phosphorus releases to surrounding waters. (What, wild fish don’t make waste?)

Pew has also prodded Congress for a moratorium on new fish farms.

But Pew has failed to gain traction with these efforts and has unfortunately taken to funding “research” to scare the public about the safety of farmed fish.