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Archive for January, 2009

PCBs and Pesticides in Fish Oils

Posted by Mel on January 27th, 2009

I have often wondered how much PCBs and pesticides such as toxaphene and chlordane were in fish oils. I’ve read labels and written to suppliers and got no answers, so I switched to flax seed oil.
Finally, a study of fish oils marketed in Canada covers some of my questions:
http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/On-your-radar/Omega-3/Omega-3-contamination-study-is-misleading-says-industry
This examination of 30 fish oil supplements […]

 In an interesting article by the above title: http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/38260974.html  , the USEPA is taken to task for not restricting and banning more chemicals.
I seldom defend the EPA, but take a look at their 1999 recommendations of fish consumption guidelines for toxaphene,
http://www.p2pays.org/ref/07/06066.pdf
While the FDA was eliminating the assay of imported foods for toxaphene, EPA was advising […]

 Here is a fantastic article on the contamination of thePuget Sound orcas. Previous articles implied nearshore contamination, but this gets closer to the heart of the matter.
http://www.chinookobserver.info/main.asp?SectionID=12&SubSectionID=30&ArticleID=26728&TM=60876.86
Chinook Salmon, the main diet of these orca, get nearly 100% of their PCBs from the open ocean. Cleaning up the harbors will not clean up the ocean, in […]

African Opinion of EU Pesticide Ban

Posted by Mel on January 20th, 2009

Take a look at an African view of Europe’s banning of dozens of pesticides.
http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/-/440808/516862/-/42aapf/-/
This is not progress. If chemicals cannot be globally banned they shouldn’t be banned.
What will happen to make up for the yield losses? Will agriculture move to the developing world to make up the loss? What pesticides will they use? What habitat […]

PCB and DDT Levels Rising Near Asia

Posted by Mel on January 16th, 2009

Albatrosses at Midway Island were studied in the 1990s. There was concern that the abandoned military installations there were leaking PCBs into the environment and poisoning the birds. Indeed, they were found to have high level of PCBs, but the chemicals were coming from generalized pollution in the Pacific Northwest and not from the military […]

The Puget Sound’s southern resident population of orcas is in danger of extinction according a team of Canadian and Washington Stare scientists.
See http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008630233_orcadiet15m.html
Scientists believe that these orcas are getting overloaded with persistent organic pollutants from their diet of chinook salmon. These pollutants are PCBs and the banned pesticides such as toxaphene, chlordane, Dieldrin, Aldrin etc, […]

Fire Retardants Concentrate in Liver of Fetus

Posted by Mel on January 16th, 2009

See: http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/pbdes-pollute-fetal-tissue/ an article about polybrominateddiphenylethers (PBDEs) infesting fetal livers in Montreal. These chemicals are flame retardants for electronics and furniture and travel through the air to get to our waters and food.
In a study of these chemicals between 1998 and 2006 researchers found them to be increasing over time. there is considerable pressure to […]

Wisconsin scientists studied Great Lakes fish eaters and found that over a ten year period their blood levels of PCB and DDT had significantly declined. http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/toxic-levels-decline-great-lakes-fish-eaters
The study showed exactly what  would have been expected; as the PCB and DDT in the fish went down, the levels in their predators went down. the levels in females […]