Farmed salmon have much higher levels of toxic chemical fire retardants polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) than wild salmon, according to a study published Monday in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
PBDEs have been linked to brain and nerve damage.
Studies show that PBDEs have been increasing exponentially over the past 25 years as contaminants in breast milk samples from Sweden; their levels have doubled every 5 years. The neurotoxic chemicals break apart from the items to which they were added and enter the environment. PBDEs are showing up in the air, soil and sediment, and are building up in animals throughout the food chain.
PBDEs will be banned in California as of Jan. 1, 2008.
“The levels of flame retardant varied according to where the fish was farmed, researchers found,” the Washington Post reported. “European farmed salmon had higher amounts of PBDEs than North American salmon; Chilean farmed salmon had the least. Researchers sampled 700 farmed and wild salmon bought from wholesale suppliers as well as supermarkets.”
Researchers said the difference between wild and farmed salmon stems from their diet.
“Farmed salmon are fed a concentrated feed high in fish oils and fish meal, which is obtained primarily from small pelagic fishes. Wild salmon have a less fatty diet and get more exercise, leaving less opportunity for flame retardant chemicals to accumulate,” according to Indiana University professor Ronald A. Hites.
Salmon of the Americas Executive Director Alex Trent, whose group represents salmon farmers in Canada, Chile and the United States, said the study shows no new data, and that consumers should not be alarmed.
(via Washington Post)
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