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The consumption of fish and seafood is a contentious issue at the best of times; even vegetarians do sometimes eat fish due to both the fact that fish seem further removed [than mammals] from our idea of sentient beings, and also because we know that Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are needed for human health. But I think there are some very real health and ethical reasons to completely stop eating fish and other seafood right now, particularly for people who do actually eat fish regularly.
Why? Well, because we have a massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
I won't pretend to know much about how to stop the leak (I'm sure there are already ample armchair experts). However, even once it is stopped we will still have a significant clean-up job on our hands, and the pollution will remain for some time.
Do not ignore the issues because the US government has disallowed fishing in the water that is being directly affected by the oil spill. We are not 'off the hook' so to speak. What happens under the surface of the water is not obvious to the eye of a casual observer.
We have two serious issues to look at when we decide whether we are comfortable eating seafood: firstly what types of toxins could find their way into fish and shellfish, and secondly what would be the effects of overfishing in the non-oil-affected parts of the world to make up for the shortfall in the supply of fish?
Due to the oil spill there are a number of different substances polluting the Gulf of Mexico area and surrounding waters. Firstly we have crude oil and secondly we have the dispersant being used, currently Corexit 9500. Constituents of crude oil include both mercury and lead which are two heavy metals that are highly poisonous to humans. Crude oil also includes benzene, toluene and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), all of which cause cancer. Scientists do claim that PAH does not accumulate in fish, but concede that it does accumulate in shellfish. The Corexit 9500 dispersant is a highly toxic chemical, roughly four times more poisonous than oil.
Heavy metals (such as mercury and lead) dispersed in water accumulates in the bodies of fish as the water is filtered through the fish's respiratory system. Additionally predatory fish tend to eat other fish, resulting in a greater heavy metal load. By the time a larger fish, prized by humans as a tasty morsel, is caught and sold as human food the heavy metals have been recycled and accumulated many times over.
Mercury results in degenerative illnesses (particularly targeting the brain) in humans and crosses the placenta in pregnant mothers. While mercury will cause degeneration of health in adults, it is significantly more concentrated when consumed by children or accumulated in a foetus. Mercury is suspected to be a leading cause of autism, Down's syndrome and other intellectual impairments.
Lead affects the brain, nervous system, reproductive system and kidneys. In laboratory tests on animals, no minimum quantity of lead has been considered a safe dose; even the smallest quantities have had a harmful effect. As with mercury, lead has its greatest impact on the health of small children due to being so concentrated. It has been associated with low IQ, slow growth and hearing defects in children.
The chemical dispersant, Corexit 9500, used by BP to try to break up the oil from the surface of the water is known to be both more toxic and also less effective than other chemical disbursants, requiring a stronger application. I feel that we have a case of misaligned corporate ethics coming into this situation as Corexit 9500 was reputedly banned in Britain over a decade ago due to its highly toxic affects on both the environment and people. How 'British' Petroleum ended up with such a large supply then I do not know.
The use of Corexit 9500 in such quantities and at such oceanic depths is unknown in human history, and the exact contents of the mixture are a trade secret. Corexit 9500 increases in toxicity as it heats up, and oil in the water tends to increase the temperature of the water. It is expected that it will affect humans' respiratory systems, nervous systems, livers, kidneys and also cause blood disorders. Just as with mercury and lead, Corexit 9500 will have a greater impact on children due to their smaller size. At the time that this article was written (early June 2010) over 600,000 gallons of Corexit 9500 have been applied to the ocean's surface.
Clearly the sea-creatures living in and around the Gulf of Mexico are going to be off the menu for some time. The government won't willingly allow people to eat contaminated seafood right?
Unfortunately however, the Gulf Coast is responsible for about 50% of the total US harvest in its peak season. Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico is estimated to be worth $2.4 billion per year. Not only is fishing an essential part of USA's GDP, but people are still eating fish and so the demand causes pressure on other fishing localities to increase the supply.
In addition, many fish, particularly deep ocean fish are migratory and will pass through the Gulf of Mexico waters on their way to someplace else. Some fish will travel up to 200 miles for feeding and reproduction and so it is not possible to easily determine which fish will have been affected by the growing pollution.
The requirement for an increase in fish from other waters has a secondary impact: overfishing. We have already been facing a global overfishing issue for some time. Overfishing is when commercial fishing results in so many fish being caught that the fish are unable to replenish their population. This is a very real circumstance occuring in the oceans today - according to overfishing.org, almost 80% of the world's fisheries are fully to over-exploited, depleted or in a state of collapse, and over 90% of the stocks of large predatory fish stocks are already gone. This means that we already have a situation where the ocean ecology is under stress and at risk of failure, and we are approaching a situation where it may not even be possible to eat fish due to the food source no longer being available.
Overfishing also directly impacts the animals and birds who reside in a particular area. As food becomes sparse, ocean mammals and birds will either go hungry or spend more time in fishing waters trying to catch fish to eat. These animals can then be caught in the fishing nets themselves, and if unable to free themselves will be killed and then discarded from the fishing haul.
So while those of us who are not yet affected by the disaster in the USA can sit back and watch everything unfold, it will be our fish and sea animals that will be increasingly removed from the oceans to make up for the shortfall in US fishing.
In my opinion the only way that we can both avoid the health issues from eating fish, and take an ethical stance against overfishing in our own backyards is to completely avoid eating fish or their byproducts. Lean protein can be easily obtained by land animals and plants, and so consumption of fish is not needed. We need to look into getting our EFAs from other sources such as flaxseeds, spirulina, chlorella and phytoplankton. Fortunately, fish do not create their own EFAs, but instead break down the EFAs in the microalgae food that they consume. Humans are able to do the same, and so we can replace fish in the diet with supplemental sources of EFA. There are a number of good supplements that are already being manufactured for vegans who wish to increase their consumption EFAs. Personally I have switched from using fish oil capsules as supplements, to marine phytoplanton supplementation. - 24553
Why? Well, because we have a massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
I won't pretend to know much about how to stop the leak (I'm sure there are already ample armchair experts). However, even once it is stopped we will still have a significant clean-up job on our hands, and the pollution will remain for some time.
Do not ignore the issues because the US government has disallowed fishing in the water that is being directly affected by the oil spill. We are not 'off the hook' so to speak. What happens under the surface of the water is not obvious to the eye of a casual observer.
We have two serious issues to look at when we decide whether we are comfortable eating seafood: firstly what types of toxins could find their way into fish and shellfish, and secondly what would be the effects of overfishing in the non-oil-affected parts of the world to make up for the shortfall in the supply of fish?
Due to the oil spill there are a number of different substances polluting the Gulf of Mexico area and surrounding waters. Firstly we have crude oil and secondly we have the dispersant being used, currently Corexit 9500. Constituents of crude oil include both mercury and lead which are two heavy metals that are highly poisonous to humans. Crude oil also includes benzene, toluene and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), all of which cause cancer. Scientists do claim that PAH does not accumulate in fish, but concede that it does accumulate in shellfish. The Corexit 9500 dispersant is a highly toxic chemical, roughly four times more poisonous than oil.
Heavy metals (such as mercury and lead) dispersed in water accumulates in the bodies of fish as the water is filtered through the fish's respiratory system. Additionally predatory fish tend to eat other fish, resulting in a greater heavy metal load. By the time a larger fish, prized by humans as a tasty morsel, is caught and sold as human food the heavy metals have been recycled and accumulated many times over.
Mercury results in degenerative illnesses (particularly targeting the brain) in humans and crosses the placenta in pregnant mothers. While mercury will cause degeneration of health in adults, it is significantly more concentrated when consumed by children or accumulated in a foetus. Mercury is suspected to be a leading cause of autism, Down's syndrome and other intellectual impairments.
Lead affects the brain, nervous system, reproductive system and kidneys. In laboratory tests on animals, no minimum quantity of lead has been considered a safe dose; even the smallest quantities have had a harmful effect. As with mercury, lead has its greatest impact on the health of small children due to being so concentrated. It has been associated with low IQ, slow growth and hearing defects in children.
The chemical dispersant, Corexit 9500, used by BP to try to break up the oil from the surface of the water is known to be both more toxic and also less effective than other chemical disbursants, requiring a stronger application. I feel that we have a case of misaligned corporate ethics coming into this situation as Corexit 9500 was reputedly banned in Britain over a decade ago due to its highly toxic affects on both the environment and people. How 'British' Petroleum ended up with such a large supply then I do not know.
The use of Corexit 9500 in such quantities and at such oceanic depths is unknown in human history, and the exact contents of the mixture are a trade secret. Corexit 9500 increases in toxicity as it heats up, and oil in the water tends to increase the temperature of the water. It is expected that it will affect humans' respiratory systems, nervous systems, livers, kidneys and also cause blood disorders. Just as with mercury and lead, Corexit 9500 will have a greater impact on children due to their smaller size. At the time that this article was written (early June 2010) over 600,000 gallons of Corexit 9500 have been applied to the ocean's surface.
Clearly the sea-creatures living in and around the Gulf of Mexico are going to be off the menu for some time. The government won't willingly allow people to eat contaminated seafood right?
Unfortunately however, the Gulf Coast is responsible for about 50% of the total US harvest in its peak season. Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico is estimated to be worth $2.4 billion per year. Not only is fishing an essential part of USA's GDP, but people are still eating fish and so the demand causes pressure on other fishing localities to increase the supply.
In addition, many fish, particularly deep ocean fish are migratory and will pass through the Gulf of Mexico waters on their way to someplace else. Some fish will travel up to 200 miles for feeding and reproduction and so it is not possible to easily determine which fish will have been affected by the growing pollution.
The requirement for an increase in fish from other waters has a secondary impact: overfishing. We have already been facing a global overfishing issue for some time. Overfishing is when commercial fishing results in so many fish being caught that the fish are unable to replenish their population. This is a very real circumstance occuring in the oceans today - according to overfishing.org, almost 80% of the world's fisheries are fully to over-exploited, depleted or in a state of collapse, and over 90% of the stocks of large predatory fish stocks are already gone. This means that we already have a situation where the ocean ecology is under stress and at risk of failure, and we are approaching a situation where it may not even be possible to eat fish due to the food source no longer being available.
Overfishing also directly impacts the animals and birds who reside in a particular area. As food becomes sparse, ocean mammals and birds will either go hungry or spend more time in fishing waters trying to catch fish to eat. These animals can then be caught in the fishing nets themselves, and if unable to free themselves will be killed and then discarded from the fishing haul.
So while those of us who are not yet affected by the disaster in the USA can sit back and watch everything unfold, it will be our fish and sea animals that will be increasingly removed from the oceans to make up for the shortfall in US fishing.
In my opinion the only way that we can both avoid the health issues from eating fish, and take an ethical stance against overfishing in our own backyards is to completely avoid eating fish or their byproducts. Lean protein can be easily obtained by land animals and plants, and so consumption of fish is not needed. We need to look into getting our EFAs from other sources such as flaxseeds, spirulina, chlorella and phytoplankton. Fortunately, fish do not create their own EFAs, but instead break down the EFAs in the microalgae food that they consume. Humans are able to do the same, and so we can replace fish in the diet with supplemental sources of EFA. There are a number of good supplements that are already being manufactured for vegans who wish to increase their consumption EFAs. Personally I have switched from using fish oil capsules as supplements, to marine phytoplanton supplementation. - 24553
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