rssIs That Whitefish on Your Plate Toxic?
Monday, June 08, 2009 at 5:06 pm
- 4 Comments
The Michigan Messenger’s Eartha Jane Melzer reports that if it comes from Lake Huron, it might be:
In its “2008 Michigan Family Fish Consumption Guide: Important facts to know if you eat Michigan fish,” the Michigan Department of Community Health warns that pre-menopausal women and children should avoid all lake trout and large whitefish from Lake Huron because elevated levels of PCBs and dioxin have been detected in samples taken by the Department of Environmental Quality.
But people who encounter these same fish in restaurants and fish markets across the country are unlikely to know about Michigan’s consumption advisory — commercial fisheries are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration which does not regularly screen for dioxin and doesn’t require that consumers be informed about state consumption advisories.
At Bay City [Mich.]’s Bay Fest over the Memorial Day weekend, representatives from Bayport Fish Co. said that most of their fish is sold to Jewish and Chinese distributors in Chicago and New York City.
According to a report by the university-based Michigan Sea Grant Extension, 60 percent of the commercially caught Great Lakes whitefish come from Lake Huron. In 2000, more than 3.5 million pounds of whitefish were harvested from the lake’s U.S.-administered waters.
4 Comments
Comment posted June 9, 2009 @ 4:57 am
It would be a shame to waste a food resource like Great Lakes whitefish. Consider the alternatives to a whitefish meal: pork from pigs raised unsustainably; beef from cows reared in feed lots; chickens raised in cages. Which meal is more a health hazard–whitefish or one of the above?
I believe PCBs can be lowered in whitefish by preparing it properly. Suppliers to restaurants should be instructed how to reduce PCB amounts through removing fat and skin thoroughly. Also, the goal should not be to remove whitefish from people's diets but limiting their intake to safe levels, perhaps one meal every two weeks.
Pingback posted June 9, 2009 @ 12:42 pm
[...] Daily life, Environment, Food, Health at 9:42 am by LeisureGuy The poison is an acquired problem. Matthew DeLong in the Washington Independent: The Michigan Messenger’s Eartha Jane Melzer reports that if it comes from Lake Huron, it might [...]
Comment posted June 9, 2009 @ 12:48 pm
“:…commercial fisheries are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration which does not regularly screen for dioxin and doesn’t require that consumers be informed about state consumption advisories.”
The FDA represents corporate interests — not citizens' interests. This is the result of decades of corporate financing of the two major parties. If you vote for them, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.
Vote Green!
Comment posted June 9, 2009 @ 7:48 pm
“:…commercial fisheries are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration which does not regularly screen for dioxin and doesn’t require that consumers be informed about state consumption advisories.”
The FDA represents corporate interests — not citizens' interests. This is the result of decades of corporate financing of the two major parties. If you vote for them, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.
Vote Green!
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