Thursday, June 16, 2011

Harvest of Fears: farm-raised fish may not be free of mercury and other pollutants

Aquaculture fish, usually fed a controlled diet, are generally less exposed to mercury than their wild, free-foraging cousins. But because they are raised in the ocean they can still absorb mercury, PCBs and dioxins. Mercury is a neuro-toxin that settles into the ocean in large concentrations after we spew it out of industrial smokestacks when burning fossil fuels like coal and oil.

It is then taken up by smaller sea life such as plankton and then spread up through the food chain as larger fish eat smaller ones. We humans then eat the mercury-laced seafood wild salmon, tuna, swordfish and other fish and breathe it in our air. Repeated exposure to mercury pollution can cause brain, kidney and developmental problems for people. Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little, The Aquaculturists, published and supported by the International Aquafeed Magazine from Perendale Publishers
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