Safety of Gulf of Mexico Seafood
The safety concerns over the Gulf of Mexico seafood continue to mount.
Representative Edward Markey (D-MA), chair of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is leading the congressional investigation into the BP oil spill, sent a letter to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg expressing concerns over the safety of Gulf seafood.
“Although I have yet to receive any response to my letter, new developments that seem to indicate that the marine food chain in the Gulf of Mexico has already been contaminated by oil and arsenic raise new questions about the impact that this catastrophic oil disaster will have on marine life in the Gulf waters,” said Markey.
Many of the region’s water and beaches have been closed to fishing and recent tests of Gulf crab larvae have showed high levels of hydrocarbons. The finding raises great concern among Markey and others who understand how important crab is for those who make a livlihood in the fishing industry and for the millions of marine wildlife who rely on crab as part of their food supply.
Another area of concern is the level of arsenic, which is continuing to mount in the Gulf. Usually, arsenic gets filtered out by the saltwater, but the oil spills are preventing the ocean from doing its job thereby increasing the level of the toxin in the seawater posing a real threat to the heath and survival of the Gulf’s sealife.
According to the Imperial College London team of researchers, “High levels of arsenic in seawater can enable the toxin to enter the food chain and can disrupt the photosynthesis process in marine plants and increase the chances of genetic alterations that can cause birth defects and behavioral changes in aquatic life. It can also kill animals such as birds that feed on sea creatures affected by arsenic.”
Arsenic in humans has been linked to cancer of the bladder, lungs, skin, kidney, nasal passages, liver, and prostate.
Tags: fda, food safety, oil spill, safety, seafood
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Most important: 11 men lost their lives when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20. This is a tribute by Steve Joynt to the 11 men who died on the Deepwater Horizon, “Oil spill Day 100: The 11 men who died on the Deepwater Horizon” We can never lose sight of the human cost of BP’s and others’ malfeasance.