Energy Enhancing Research Article #2:
Cheaper Is Not Better... For Your Health
"The FDA provides the following advice about eating fish: Do not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury."
The 5 most commonly eaten fish that are low in mercury are shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish.
"Like mercury, PCBs are also dangerous to adults as well as unborn and very young children."
"Fish are the main sources of concentrated PCB exposure. The highest dietary levels of PCBs are found in farmed salmon."
"Flame retardants, electrical equipment, pesticides, paints, varnishes, and inks were made with PCBs until the manufacture of the organochlorine compounds was banned in 1979. Materials containing PCBs that were in service at the time of the ban, however, were not removed from use, and some are still used today. In addition, although the ban led to a dramatic drop in levels of PCBs in the environment, they persist as a common pollutant because of their low solubility in water and low volatility.
PCBs affect the central nervous system, and elevated levels of PCBs from eating fish causes significantly poorer performance on measures of memory and learning compared with controls.
PCB exposure is also associated with liver and breast cancer, neurologic and endocrine problems, and possibly even increased risk for heart disease.
"In children, PCB exposure in utero and from breast milk consumption has been linked with neurodevelopmental delays, impaired cognition, immune problems, and alterations in male reproductive organs."
Testing with PCB levels costs more than $1000.
"Because of PCBs, people are advised not to eat white bass, carp, or sturgeon caught in Wisconsin's Green Bay, for instance, or largemouth bass caught in various Florida waterways, or any fish at all caught in New York's Nassau Lake."
"Generally, freshwater fish that live in inland lakes, such as bluefish, lake trout, and smelt, are more likely to be contaminated."
"Commercially farmed fish are now receiving a lot of attention as a source of PCBs."
The highest levels of dietary PCBs occurred in farmed salmon sold in the United States and Canada.
"Any more than a single 8-ounce portion of farmed salmon a month posed an 'unacceptable cancer risk' to consumers."
"More than 90% of the salmon consumed in the United States is farm-raised; it is available year-round and is less costly than wild salmon."
"As with mercury, the only treatment for PCB poisoning is removal of the source. However, it is almost impossible to completely eliminate exposure since PCBs occur in many foods besides fish."
"Lean ocean fish such as cod, flounder, and haddock are the least likely to be contaminated with PCBs."
"Passage out of the human body takes 3 months to a year for mercury and up to 8 years for PCBs," but the contaminants have a different half-life in different organs."
