Farmed Salmon Is Said to Contain High PCB Levels

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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/30/dining/30WELL.html?th

 

July 30, 2003Farmed Salmon Is Said to Contain High PCB LevelsBy MARIAN BURROS

 

 

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 that nutritionists say is good for you, and the Food and Drug

Administration 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 Food and Drug Administration for

commercially sold fish. But they are in excess of the guidelines set by the

Environmental Protection Agency in 1999 for recreationally caught fish. PCB's,

an industrial byproduct, which has been identified as a probable human

carcinogen, were banned by the United States in 1976.

 

The study has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. But two 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

F.D.A. center for food safety and applied nutrition, 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 United States. The E.P.A.

standards, which are far stricter than those used by the food and drug agency,

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. One sample in the farmed salmon study contained levels of

PCB's so high that the environmental agency's advice would be to eat it no more

than once every two months. The remaining nine samples tested exceeded the

agency's weekly recommendation. The salmon tested came from five countries,

including Canada and the United States.

 

" Until we hear differently from the F.D.A., 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 United States, 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. E.P.A. and F.D.A. should work their differences

out. "

 

A high-level E.P.A. 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 Food and Drug Administration, said

the F.D.A. was considering updating its guidelines. " We are clearly aware of it

and actively looking at the science to see if the science dictates that it needs

to be changed, " she said.

 

The Environmental Working Group's study followed the analytical methods of the

E.P.A., 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 three

times and mixed to homogenize the meat. A portion of the fish tissue was then

extracted and analyzed for PCB's.

 

Three 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 in the journal Environmental Science

and Technology, which is peer-reviewed; a government study for the Food Safety

Authority of Ireland, reported in March last year; and a study by Dr. Michael

Easton of International EcoGenInc in British Columbia, reported last year 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 United States 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; in farmed salmon, they are about 27 parts per billion, far below the

F.D.A. levels of 2,000 parts per billion. Environmental Protection

Administration guidelines say that if a person eats fish twice a week, it should

contain no more than 4 to 6 parts per billion 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, 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 F.D.A. changes its limits, we will be the first to comply, "

Mr. Trent said. " Someone is yelling fire in a theater to help make their point,

and they haven't proven this point to the F.D.A. yet. If they had, they would

change their standards. "

 

Wild Oats, a 100-store natural and organic supermarket chain, based in Boulder,

Colo., is not waiting for the F.D.A. Starting next week, it will sell farmed

organic salmon from the west coast of Ireland, which it says tests as low for

PCB's as wild salmon because the company uses feed made of fish taken from clean

waters within a 30-mile radius of its farm. The Irish salmon will sell for the

same price as wild salmon, $10 to $11 a pound. Farmed salmon from Nova Scotia

will continue to sell for $9 a pound.

 

Whole Foods Markets, a 145-store natural and organic foods supermarket based in

Austin, Tex., is also looking for farmed salmon with lower levels of PCB's.

Margaret Wittenberg, its vice president for public affairs, said: " The

discrepancy between E.P.A. and F.D.A. is so dramatic one is hard pressed to make

sense of it. F.D.A. should make this a high priority. "

 

 

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

 

 

 

 

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