Get The Real Truth (for a change)
Tired of hearing people claim that they “heard” that eating this fish or that fish was unhealthy? Tired of reading reports that seem to be so far off base about the health hazards of fish that you wonder where the hell they might get their material?
Me too.
The Environmental Defense Fund, a group that gives lip service to helping devise sustainable methods of fishery management while spending huge amounts of money to convince people to not eat the fish we catch, is a prime example. Another is the world famous Monterey Aquarium, a hotbed of misinformation operating under the guise of scientific investigation and receiving much funding and <ahem> guidance from Pew and other associated Environmental Trusts.
The truth is, Americans could benefit their health by increasing the amounts of fish they eat by a huge amount and would still not even come close to consuming and accumulating in their bloodstream “dangerous amounts” of methyl mercury. The further truth is, not even the FDA uses numbers that are approached by most fish consumers and the FDA number is arbitrarily adjusted by a factor of 10. What this means is that by using already questionable scientific studies the FDA has arrived at a level of mercury they feel is “safe”. (This is the BMDL or Benchmark Dose Lower Limit) Okay, makes sense, be cautious, I’m all for that. However, they then divided that by TEN to arrive at what they call the RfD (or Reference Dose). Then they base all their warnings on that number.
For instance, a typical pregnant woman who only slightly exceeds the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Reference Dose” for mercury in her blood isn’t in any danger. Neither is her unborn child. Alas, she might be protected by a 900-percent cushion instead of the 1,000-percent the rest of us enjoy. But she’s still not likely to be in any danger. The EPA understands this, but it continues to multiply the theoretical risk by ten, desperate in its quest to protect us from ourselves.
http://fishscam.com/fOverview.cfm
Even using that ridiculous and arbitrarily low number, only a tiny percentage of Americans test over the limit for mercury in their bloodstreams. The truth is, the healthful aspects of eating fish, even much larger amounts of fish than almost all Americans eat, far far outweigh the health dangers. The further truth is, by using these scare tactics, the environmental groups themselves put large numbers of Americans, often children, at greater risk for no other reason than to increase their memberships and help their fund raising efforts.
In the FDA’s own words, its mercury guideline “was established to limit consumers’ methyl mercury exposure to levels 10 times lower than the lowest levels associated with adverse effects.” So even if a pregnant woman consumed twice as much mercury as the FDA’s recommended limit, she would still be protected by a 500-percent cushion.
http://fishscam.com/mercuryCalculator.cfm
Does this stop the environmentalist fund raising and litigation machines from warning people about the DANGER! ? Hell no, Will Robinson, I said there is danger and by gum there is danger.
The Monterey Aquarium happily distributes a printable pocket guide called “Seafood Watch” for folks to refer to that lists, among others, grouper, snapper, sharks and Tuna as fish to avoid and adds a red asterisk to warn people of the health risk from mercury these fish constitute.
The Environmental Defense Fund has a handy printable pocket version of their “Seafood Selector” (anyone else seeing a joining at the hip between these two entities?) for you to carry which lists Grouper, Shark, Swordfish, Tilefish and Tuna as Eco-worst choices, this time with a big red dot warning about the danger from mercury.
The web site FishScam.com has a mercury calculator. It is based on the already conservative BMDL that the FDA has determined. Putting in Grouper and assuming a body weight of 150lbs (mine is considerably higher but I’m not sure I’m the Benchmark Lean Median Weight) a person would have to consume a little over 2 lbs of grouper every week of their life to approach risk. However, the enviros take that BMDL, divide it by that “safety factor” of ten, and arrive at a conclusion that a 150lb person would definitely be at risk if they consumed 4 ozs. of grouper per week.
Then they mount a scare campaign to convince consumers to stay away from that fish based on that science.
Pass me my bucket, please, I may have to sPew.
