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Issue 11 September 2012
-
Wild Game Fish Conservation International (WGFCI): Established
in 2011
to advocate for wild game fish, their fragile ecosystems and the
cultures and economies that rely on their robust populations.
LEGACY The Journal of Wild Game Fish Conservation:
Complimentary,
no-nonsense, monthly publication by conservationists for
conservationists
LEGACY, the WGFCI Facebook page and the WGFCI website are
utilized
to better equip fellow conservationists, elected officials,
business owners and others regarding wild game fish, their
contributions to society and the varied and complex issues
impacting them and those who rely on their sustainability.
LEGACY features wild game fish conservation projects, fishing
adventures,
accommodations, equipment and more. Your photos and articles
featuring wild game fish from around planet earth are welcome for
possible inclusion in an upcoming issue
of LEGACY. Your Letters to the Editor are welcome.
Successful wild game fish conservation efforts around planet
earth will ensure existence of these precious natural resources and
their ecosystems for future
generations to enjoy and appreciate. This is our LEGACY.
LLeeggaaccyy
Wild Game Fish Conservation International
Wild Game Fish Conservation International founders:
Bruce Treichler Jim Wilcox
Co-editor Legacy
Publisher and co-editor Legacy
-
LLeeggaaccyy TTThhheee JJJooouuurrrnnnaaalll ooofff WWWiiilllddd
GGGaaammmeee FFFiiissshhh CCCooonnnssseeerrrvvvaaatttiiiooonnn
By Wild Game Fish Conservation International
Celebrating Ten Consecutive Months of Wild Game Fish News
SalmonAreSacred.org
-
LLeeggaaccyy
Contents Global issues
Feature: Human Health Impacts of Open Pen Salmon Feedlot
Practices 7
Salmon Aquaculture and Transmission of the Fish Tapeworm
................................................................................
7 Family eats HEB salmon covered in worms
................................................................................................................
9 Just say no to farmed salmon
.................................................................................................................................
10 Woman talks about her allergic reaction to antibiotics in Farmed
Salmon ...........................................................
13 Diabetes study suggests link to viruses and toxins
.................................................................................................
14 Dead-fish-like smell raises stink
.................................................................................................................................
15 n3 Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with
Dysglycemia .....................................................
16 Salmon Aquaculture and Antimicrobial Resistance in the Marine
Environment .................................................. 17
Selections from: The role of persistent organic pollutants in the
worldwide epidemic of type 2 diabetes
mellitus and the possible connection to Farmed Atlantic Salmon
(Salmo salar). (Altern Med Rev
2011;16(4):301-313)
......................................................................................................................................................
18 First-Ever U.S. Tests of Farmed Salmon Show High Levels of
Cancer-Causing PCBs ........................................ 20
First Global Study Reveals Health Risks of Widely Eaten Farm Raised
Salmon .................................................. 21
Planet Earth 22
Sustainable Floodplains Through Large-Scale Reconnection to
Rivers
............................................................... 23
Enjoy wild Pacific salmon dinners at these restaurants:
.........................................................................................
24 Say NO to Farmed Salmon
..........................................................................................................................................
25 Sign petition here: COSTCO, Safeway & Loblaws: Please stop
selling diseased farm salmon! ......................... 27 NWF:
Risk of coal exports outweigh gains
................................................................................................................
28 Pants on Fire Recognition: Glenn Cooke, CEO of Cooke Aquaculture
.............................................................. 29
How Tar Sands Extraction Is Destroying the Planet and What you can
do to Stop it ........................................... 30
-
Contents National and local issues Canada 31
Canadians are saying no to tar sands pipelines: risks outweigh
the benefits ......................................................
31 Canada needs energy diversity: federal documents
................................................................................................
32 J'Accuse!...Fish Farmers and Our Governments
......................................................................................................
33
British Columbia
........................................................................................................................................................................
34 Christy Clark toughens pipeline stance as Enbridge announces
safety upgrades .............................................. 34
First Nations outraged by Clark's Enbridge pipeline 'sales pitch'
..........................................................................
35 Enbridge stirs up controversy with depiction of waterway
.....................................................................................
37 Video: Northern Gateway Pipelines and Tankers - Whats at Stake?
.....................................................................
39 Northern British Columbia Tourism Boycott
.............................................................................................................
40 Five years after Burnaby oil pipeline rupture, residents rally
against Kinder Morgan expansion ...................... 43 No choice
but to go forward to the Supreme Court of Canada to protect wild
salmon ........................................ 45 Walter Cordery:
Protecting wild fish must be made a priority
................................................................................
48 Sampling Salmon on the Mighty Fraser
.....................................................................................................................
49 Anissa Reed: Such an honour
.................................................................................................................................
50 Stop Norwegian Fish Farms from Killing Wild Salmon
............................................................................................
51 Agency orders cull of Atlantic salmon at two farms
.................................................................................................
52 Second B.C. salmon farm quarantined after tests
....................................................................................................
53 Compensation Culture
.................................................................................................................................................
54 Fish farm flap
................................................................................................................................................................
55 Fatal virus found in more B.C. salmon farms
............................................................................................................
56 BC Salmon Farms Provide IHN Update
......................................................................................................................
57 Unprotected salmon farming - Blame it on the wild salmon
....................................................................................
58 Letter to Sue Farlinger (Department of Fisheries and Oceans)
...............................................................................
60 Nanaimo-based conservation group campaigns for
enclosed-container farms
................................................... 61 B.C. sockeye
salmon fishery likely closed again
......................................................................................................
62
Newfoundland and Labrador
....................................................................................................................................................
63 Gray Aqua could receive $13M for salmon
................................................................................................................
63 ASF concerned about virus
outbreak.........................................................................................................................
64
Nova Scotia
................................................................................................................................................................................
65 New fish farms will help environment - Cooke
..........................................................................................................
65 VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
...............................................................................................................................................
66
Chile 68 Salmon cages floating in the National Reserve
Guaitecas, Chile
...........................................................................
68
New Zealand 69 The Sounds are for All say NO to nine new salmon
farms
...................................................................................
69 Salmon farm cleared of known disease
.....................................................................................................................
70
Scotland 71 Will wildlife have to pay the price for salmon
farming?
...........................................................................................
71 Holyrood denies greenwash over salmon deaths
.....................................................................................................
73
USA 74 Hydro bill energizes debate over the nations dams
................................................................................................
74 Help stop the worst dam bill ever.
..............................................................................................................................
75 Thousands of fish die as Midwest streams heat up
.................................................................................................
76 US bid to return salmon to Connecticut River ends
.................................................................................................
78 Seafood Species Substitution and Economic Fraud
................................................................................................
79 FDA's Examples of Substituted Seafood
...................................................................................................................
80 Conservation Update: Some in House Want Bristol Bay, West Coast
Opened to Drilling ................................... 81
Alaska
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
82 EPA Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment Generates Widespread
Applause, Intensifies Opposition to Pebble
Mine
................................................................................................................................................................................
82 Protect wild Alaskan salmon Oppose proposed Pebble Mine
..............................................................................
84 Alaska's King Salmon Disappearance Leaves Locals Wondering
..........................................................................
85 A banner king salmon run on Nushagak River in Alaska's Bristol
Bay
.................................................................
86
Maine
...........................................................................................................................................................................................
87 Atlantic salmon return to the Kennebec River
..........................................................................................................
87
Washington State
......................................................................................................................................................................
88 US Senator Maria Cantwell : Salmon virus action plan
............................................................................................
88 US Senator Patty Murray: perform a thorough cumulative impact
assessment - export of coal via
Washington state and Oregon
....................................................................................................................................
89 Washington congressman seeks coal production tax
.............................................................................................
91 Northwest Tribes Fight for Treaty Rights in Face of
Coal-Transport Plan
............................................................. 92
Coal train victory: One less hazardous route in Washington
..................................................................................
93 Businesses want more coal in Washington, neighbors not so sure
......................................................................
94 National Wildlife Federation Report: Less Coal, More Salmon
...............................................................................
95 Strip Mining Would Imperil Water Quality
..................................................................................................................
96 Our Views: Failure on Flooding Would Be a Great Tragedy
....................................................................................
97 What makes us think we can control a river system better than
nature can? .......................................................
98 THE WILD OLYMPICS EFFORT: New legislation will create a legacy
for generations ....................................... 100 THE
WILD OLYMPICS EFFORT: Wilderness myth threatens roads, tax base,
good jobs .................................. 101
Community outreach: Free salmon fishing seminar 102 Conservation
Video Library Why were involved 103 Attention Conservation-minded
Business Owners104 WGFCI endorsed conservation organizations:
104
-
LLeeggaaccyy
Forward
The September 2012 issue of Legacy features articles associated
with the growing global concerns regarding known and unknown
impacts to human health due to unsustainable open pen salmon
feedlot industry practices. The objective of publishing Legacy each
month is to share current and planned actions that impact the
future of wild game fish and their ecosystems around planet earth
with our on-line audience. Impact to human health due to the
expanding open pen salmon feedlot industry is but one of the issues
addressed in the September 2012 issue. Please feel free to share
this publication with others. Our hope is that those who read
Legacy will come to understand that what is good for sustainable
wild game fish is also good for humans. Similarly, what is bad for
wild game fish is also really bad for humans! Its exciting that a
growing number of recreational anglers and conservationists around
planet earth are passionate about conserving wild game fish and
their continued availability for this and future generations to
enjoy and appreciate. Just as exciting is that growing numbers of
consumers are paying close attention to the impacts each of us have
on global resources through our daily purchases. We continue to
urge our global audience to speak out passionately and to
demonstrate peacefully for wild game fish and their ecosystems;
ecosystems that we are but one small component of. As recreational
fishermen, conservation of wild game fish for future generations is
our passion. Publishing Legacy each month is our self imposed
responsibility to help ensure the future of these precious gifts
that have been entrusted to our generation.
Bruce Treichler James E. Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation
International
-
Feature: Human Health Impacts of Open Pen Salmon Feedlot
Practices
Salmon Aquaculture and Transmission of the Fish Tapeworm June
2007
Aquaculture of salmon constitutes a rapidly growing worldwide
industry with an expanding globalized market (1,2). Although this
industry has several economic benefits, according to recent reports
it is also accompanied by effects that are detrimental to human and
animal health and the environment (1,2). Aquaculture has been
implicated in the transmission of infectious diseases. For example,
in caged fish aquaculture, bacterial and parasitic diseases can be
transmitted to wild fish (1,2). Furthermore, aquaculture-raised
fish may be susceptible to the microorganisms and parasites of wild
fish (1,3). However, in spite of the accepted fact that parasitic
worms can be transmitted to humans by free-ranging fish (4), until
recently, few examples have been reported of pathogens that could
be transmitted to humans directly by the products and subproducts
of salmon aquaculture. I discuss here information indicating that
salmon aquaculture is involved in expanding the range of fish
tapeworm infections in nature and to humans.
Several recent publications report outbreaks of human cases of
infection by the fish tapeworm Diphyllobothrium latum in Brazil
(59). These infections have been epidemiologically linked to
consumption of raw salmon produced by the aquaculture industry in
southern Chile, thousands of miles away (59). Infections by D.
latum have been detected in several cities in Brazil (59), and in 1
tourist who traveled there from Europe (10). These cases of
diphyllobothriasis are noteworthy because this parasite was totally
unknown to clinicians and parasitologists in Brazil, where it does
not appear to have an endemic life cycle (59).
D. latum is transmitted to humans by plerocercoid larvae present
in fish meat and visceral organs (http://www.dpd.cdc.gov/dpdx). D.
latum and the closely related sea gull tapeworm, D. dendriticum,
have well-established endemic life cycles in a series of glacial
lakes that dot Region XIX and Region X in northern Chilean
Patagonia. Infections with these parasites have been detected in
this geographic area since the 1950s in persons who ingested
uncooked fish from these lakes and also in animals (1114). The link
that closes the epidemiologic chain between the Brazilian outbreak
of fish tapeworm infections and the aquaculture of salmon in
southern Chile is that some of the freshwater lakes where D. latum
and D. dendriticum are endemic are used to grow the freshwater
stages of juvenile salmon, or smolt, in cages (15). Smolt are
temporarily grown in these lakes to accelerate their growth before
they are transported to cages in the sea where the salmon will
reach adult stages. The practice of growing smolt in freshwater
lakes appears to be unique to Chilean salmon aquaculture; in other
salmon aquaculture settings, smolt are grown in tanks containing
filtered water.
During the past 55 years, work by Chilean parasitologists has
demonstrated that native species and introduced salmonid fish are
infested with Diphyllobothrium plerocercoids in these lakes (1114).
Moreover, the other intermediary hosts of the fish tapeworm, the
calanoid copepods Diaptomus diabolicus and Boeckela gracilipes, are
also abundant (16). Native and introduced fish ingest copepods
containing procercoid larvae that develop into plerocercoids (16).
The fish tapeworm life cycle is subsequently closed in these lakes
when humans and animals, the definitive hosts of these fish
tapeworms, ingest infested fish (1116). The persistence of the
cycle of D. latum in these lakes is facilitated by the release of
untreated sewage, which deposits stools of infected humans
containing high concentrations of fish tapeworm eggs in the water
(1117).
The Brazilian studies did not detect Diphyllobothrium
plerocercoids in several samples of Chilean salmon tested after the
first human cases of diphylobothriasis appeared (7). However, this
failure may have resulted from limited sampling or temporal and
spatial variability in the infestation of the salmon with
plerocercoids (1117).
-
Nonetheless, recent work in Chile has demonstrated the presence
of Diphyllobothrium plerocercoids in rainbow trout raised in
aquaculture, which suggests that aquacultured fish can become
infected with these parasites (18).
In Chile, infestation with Diphyllobothrium plerocercoids has
also been detected in coho salmon living in the wild, a
nonindigenous species raised originally in aquaculture that escaped
from pens (19). Larvae of another fish tapeworm, D. pacificum,
whose definitive hosts are large marine mammals such as sea lions
and fur seals, have been detected in marine fish in Chile (20).
Salmon aquaculture sea cages attracts these large mammals, creating
the possibility for the parasite life cycle to occur in the
environment around the salmon cages (20). However, this is an
unlikely scenario for the spread to human populations, because the
fish tapeworms identified in the patients in Brazil had the
morphologic characteristics of D. latum, which as discussed above
is one of the diphyllobothrium endemic in the lakes of southern
Chile (59). These findings suggest that the aquaculture of salmon
in southern Chile has expanded the species range of infestation by
diphyllobothrium to nonindigenous salmonid fish species introduced
by the aquaculture industry (18,19) and that the escape of infected
fish from aquaculture sea cages has probably resulted in the
expansion of the geographic range of the disease in Chile (19). In
turn, the marketing of Chilean aquacultured salmon in Brazil has
expanded the range of this human disease to a geographic region
where this pathology was until now absent (59).
Traditionally in Europe and North America, infections with fish
tapeworms were incurred during the preparation of gefilte fish by
Jewish women who tasted bits of uncooked freshwater fish and thus
ingested plerocercoids (21). In Chile, infestation of humans with
the fish tapeworm in the D. latumendemic area results from
ingestion of raw and smoked fish, and in the Brazilian outbreak all
the case-patients had previously eaten salmon sushi. Marinated
ceviches may also be able to transmit infecting plerocercoids
(59,1117). The disease in humans can be prevented by cooking the
fish at a temperature of 54C to 56C for 5 minutes (21).
Alternatively, the plerocercoids can be destroyed by blast-freezing
the fish at 35C for 15 hours and by regular freezing at 20C for 7
days before consumption (22).
Thus, to avoid new human outbreaks of fish tapeworm in other
geographic areas where this parasite does not exist, salmon
originated from aquaculture should not be eaten raw, at least not
until it has been frozen under the conditions discussed above.
Assuming the epidemiologic information presented here explains the
appearance of the fish tapeworm outbreak in Brazil, it would be
preferable, in terms of sanitation, for the Chilean aquaculture
industry to stop growing salmon smolt in the lakes in the areas
where diphyllobothriasis is endemic in humans and animals
(1117).
This epidemiologic event may also be understood as cautionary
tale, and 1 more example of the dangers entailed by the
globalization of food supply and of the rapidly changing global
eating habits that facilitate the distribution of human and animal
pathogens worldwide. The expansion of diphyllobothriasis-endemic
areas in Chile may, in turn, facilitate the appearance of future
outbreaks of this disease as the aquaculture industry expands to
these new infested areas and the market for Chilean salmon enlarges
worldwide. The increased popularity of eating uncooked fish in
sushi and ceviche will also be a factor in the emergence of future
outbreaks of this disease (4,21). As has been the case with other
human infectious diseases disseminated by the industrialization of
animal husbandry, this outbreak of diphyllobothriasis could have
been prevented by use of existing information, including that
concerning the endemic nature of diphyllobothriasis in the lakes of
southern Chile and its transmission by raw fish
-
Family eats HEB salmon covered in worms Health department is
investigating the case
KXAN video: Report of Bad Salmon
June, 19, 2012
ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) - The Pham family is trying to forget
what happened at their large Father's Day celebration Saturday.
They prepared their own sushi with raw salmon purchased the same
day at the H-E-B in Round Rock at State Highway 45 and Greenlawn
Boulevard.
"My niece came in here, and she was eating one of the few pieces
of sushi we had left on the plate and said, 'Ew, something feels
funny,'" said Nichol Pham. "She pulled something out of her mouth,
and it looked like a string."
When they looked closer, the string was moving. When they looked
at the rest of the salmon, they could see more tiny worms covering
the fish.
Pham said 23 people ate the salmon and felt sick the next day.
Half of them were children, all cousins, ages 2 to 12.
"We've vomited, have diarrhea, stomach aching," said Pham. "My
stomach is still aching today."
She said they went back to H-E-B that night to talk to a manager
who offered a refund.
"We explained to him: 'We don't want a refund. We've already
ingested this into our bodies,'" said Pham. "Common sense to me:
You pull it off the shelf until you find out what's wrong with your
fish."
Then she contacted the Williamson County Health Department. A
spokesperson for the department told KXAN News they are
investigating and will be looking into how the product was handled
at the market and how it was handled after the purchase.
Carol Huntsberger, owner of Quality Seafood Market , said salmon
carries a lot of parasites and worms -- though they are rarely seen
at a store.
There are only two ways to kill them: cooking the fish
thoroughly or freezing raw salmon through a process mandated by law
at minus 4 degrees for 168 hours, which is about seven days.
"It kills the parasites. It kills the worms, and it makes sure
it's safe to eat," said Huntsberger.
H-E-B emailed the following statement:
"H-E-B is committed to absolutely safe food. We discourage the
consumption of raw or undercooked seafood unless it is prepared and
handled according to FDA specifications.
"We encourage all consumers to practice safe food handling when
preparing sushi with raw fish. For additional information, refer to
the FDA website."
-
Just say no to farmed salmon April 5, 2012
Twenty years ago, a lead article in the New England Journal of
Medicine reported that men in a Danish fishing village who ate at
least 30 oz of salmon a week had half the risk of getting a heart
attack as their bovine-consuming neighbors.
Since heart disease had been, until very recently, the leading
cause of death in this country physicians have been recommending
that everyone eat fish at least once weekly. In addition to its
benefit in reduction of cardiovascular mortality, fish oils have
also been found to be of benefit in reducing arthritis and other
inflammatory disorders and to improve cognition (particularly in
the offspring of fish consuming moms). The NEJM article was
published in May of 1985 and between 1987 and 1999 the annual
salmon consumption in the United States increased by 23%. During
the same time period it increased by 14% in Europe.
This increase in fish consumption has unfortunately not proven
to be a boon to the hardy fishermen and women of Alaska. In fact,
since the Exxon Valdez disaster these hard-working folks are
getting far less per pound for their fish than they were prior to
the disaster (which is still not cleaned up). Close to 60% of the
salmon now sold is raised in farms located around the globe
(British Columbia, Washington State, Chile and Northern Europe) in
which Atlantic salmon (genus Salmo) are crowded into pens and fed
fish meal pellets. If you are looking at salmon in the grocery
store or the restaurant and it says just salmon or Atlantic Salmon,
it is farmed. The presence of these pens in the Pacific Northwest
pose a serious threat to the native runs of pacific salmon (genus
Oncorhyncus) in those areas.
While the potential health benefits of wild salmon are well
known, the potential toxicity of the farmed salmon needs to be
highlighted. Several studies have now been done measuring the
levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, and other persistent
chlorinated contaminants in farmed salmon. A study done by the Food
Safety Authority of Ireland found that farmed salmon had an average
of four times the amount of PCBs and Dioxins as wild salmon. In the
United States, the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org) did a
small study of farmed salmon that were purchased at stores in
Washington DC, San Francisco, and Portland, OR. They found that
seven of the ten farmed salmon purchased had levels of PCB that
should raise health concerns. The EWG researchers found an average
PCB level of 27.3 ppb in the ten fish studied with highest levels
in the salmon that was farm raised in Scotland. This was over 5
times higher than the level of PCBs found in a sampling of wild
salmon.
These studies, done on relatively small numbers of fish, had
their findings confirmed in a subsequent study done on over 700
salmon (totaling approximately 2 metric tons of farmed and wild
salmon) from around the globe. Thirteen persistent chlorinated
chemical pollutants were found in significantly higher levels in
farmed salmon than in wild salmon. The only compound that did not
reach statistical significance was lindane which was still higher
in farmed than wild salmon. The four compounds with the greatest
differences were PCBs, dioxins, toxaphene and dieldrin. The least
contaminated fish samples came from Washington State and Chile
still had significantly higher levels of PCBs, dioxins and
dieldrin. The most contaminated farmed salmon came from Scotland
and the Faroe islands.
The researchers were wise enough to also test the fish pellets
that these farmed salmon were fed. They tested samples of salmon
feed from global suppliers that account for 80% of all salmon feed
sold world-wide, and found the source of the salmons contamination.
The levels of these toxins in the fish were directly related to
their presence in their feed. These pellets are made from smaller
fish which have been contaminated with these pollutants. PCBs then
build up in the salmon at levels about 20-30 that of their
environment and feed.
-
Proponents of aquaculture (fish farming) are ready to point out
that these levels are not necessarily a health hazard. However,
studies that have looked at the effect of PCB intake on offspring
appear to contradict that stance. There have been a number of
studies that have measured maternal levels of PCBs and then
followed the offspring for a number of years. Their findings are
consistent that the higher the serum levels of maternal PCBs the
greater the neurological deficits in the offspring.
In 1979 rice bran cooking oil that was contaminated with PCBs
was used for a number of months in Taiwan. Children born to exposed
mothers (including children born up to 6 years after the exposure)
were then followed for persistent neuro-psychological problems. At
6 years post exposure the offspring scored an average of 6 IQ
points lower than their older siblings who were themselves exposed
to the PCBs. In addition they exhibited 23% greater rates of
problem behavior and 15% greater levels of activity than their
controls. By age 17 these children still showed significantly
greater problems with behavior and had a persistent IQ reduction
averaging 3 IQ points. This was true even in children born to
mothers up to 6 years after their exposure.
A study done in Michigan followed the development of children
born to mothers who had consumed fish from Lake Michigan which were
polluted with PCBs. These were not farm-raised fish with 4-16 times
the level of PCBs found in wild fish. Even though the average
maternal serum levels of PCBs were only mildly higher than US
averages, these children did show persistent effects. By age 11
these children showed reduced total IQ, and especially verbal IQ,
that became more pronounced as the maternal levels of PCBs
increased. IQ drops in the group with the highest maternal serum
level averaged 6.2 IQ points. This reduction in IQ is similar to
that found in children with elevated blood lead levels. The
children with in-utero exposure had poorer verbal and reading
comprehension, poor freedom from distractibility, reduced short and
long-term memory, and decreased ability to organize and plan. These
children were more than three times likely to perform poorly on
testing and were at least two years behind their controls in
reading skills. Fortunately levels of PCB in maternal breastmilk
had absolutely no association with these neurotoxicity effects. It
appears that these defects are developed secondary to PCB exposure
in utero, not after delivery.
The alarming point of the ongoing Michigan study is that the
mothers only had blood PCB levels slightly above the US average. It
would not be hard to have much higher than normal PCB levels if one
were to be eating farmed salmon on a regular basis. Even though no
federal agency has put out a warning, I think it would be prudent
to let all women for whom pregnancy is possible know that they
should avoid all exposure to farmed salmon. Fortunately every
grocery store seems to have cans of Alaskan Salmon that are readily
available for use. With the highest EPA/DHA levels of any fish and
a very low mercury and PCB levels, it provides one of the best
sources of fish in the diet.
But what does one do if they have elevated PCB levels in their
blood. As was found in the Taiwan study, children born up to 6
years after moms exposure still had problems. Since PCBs are
fat-soluble, they tend to stay in the body for a long time and
redistribute throughout adipose stores. Since the human body is not
designed to easily get rid of fats or oils these compounds tend to
bioaccumulate. Supplementation that helps to produce and dump bile
(cholegogue and cholerectic actions) and have that bile be excreted
from the body would be beneficial. Psyllium is still the only fiber
that is known to actually increase the fecal bile content.
-
But having patients undergo a program that combines low
temperature sauna and colonic irrigations may be the best protocol
to reduce levels of PCBs.
PCBs have also been associated in the medical literature with
different cancers. One of my cancer patients had his PCB levels
tested prior to going through our intensive cleansing program for a
period of four weeks. He was retested twice as he continued to do a
maintenance cleansing protocol. His initial program included 3
hours of low temperature sauna five days weekly for 20 session,
that were followed by constitutional hydrotherapy and colonic
irrigations. Supplementation was included as part of his cleansing
program along with dietary changes. After the initial 20 sessions
he did one colonic irrigation weekly for the following 18 months.
Prior to starting his cleansing program he had 3 (out of 10 tested)
PCBs present in his blood totaling 2.5 ng/ml (ppb). Eleven months
later only 2 were present for a level of 1.4 ng/ml. Seven months
after that none were detected! This rate of decline far outpaces
the normal glacial reduction of PCBs in the serum (as highlighted
in the Taiwan spill studies), showing that this cleansing method
was clearly effective for this individual in reducing his body
burden of PCBs.
While such cleansing programs are available to reduce the body
burden of persistent chemical pollutants, it would be wiser to
avoid exposures to them in the first place. For the sake of the
children-to-be, the intake of all Atlantic salmon should be
avoided
-
Woman talks about her allergic reaction to antibiotics in Farmed
Salmon
Dont eat it; its farmed salmon! (Unidentified Vancouver, BC
chef)
-
Diabetes study suggests link to viruses and toxins August 13,
2012
More than 87,000 Australians have been diagnosed with Type 1
diabetes. A new study attributes an
environmental cause to the disease.
MINI-EPIDEMICS of type 1 diabetes appear to be occurring among
Australian children every five
years, a landmark study that points to an environmental cause of
the autoimmune disease shows.
The study found that type 1 diabetes, a condition that occurs
when the body's immune system seems
to spontaneously attack and kill the cells that produce insulin,
has also been inexplicably increasing
by more than 2 per cent every year.
The researchers reviewed every new case of type 1 diabetes in
Western Australia over 25 years,
finding that while the illness was on the rise, it was doing so
with an even flow of peaks and troughs.
In some cases there was a difference of up to 20 per cent
between the peak and low years, the
study, published in the journal Diabetes Care, says.
One of the co-authors, Professor Tim Jones, said that while
there must be some reason for both the
increase and the cyclical pattern of the condition, it was not
yet understood.
"We don't really know what the triggers are. There are probably
multiple triggers, including
environmental factors such as viruses and toxins," he said.
"There have been increases in allergies
at the same time [as type 1 diabetes has increased], so it may
reflect similar underlying causes."
When his team compared the pattern in West Australia with
similar research done overseas, they
found it to be "almost identical" to a pattern found in northern
England, despite the two areas having
very different demographic and climatic conditions. The data
suggests another peak beginning this
year, with previous ones occurring in 2007 and 2002.
More than 87,000 Australians have been diagnosed with type 1
diabetes, the most recent figures
from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show.
Professor Jones said the peaks could be caused by cycles in
which viruses are dominant, similar to
those with cold and flu viruses, where different strains are
common each year.
He said research was now being done to monitor babies who could
be at risk of the condition
because their parents have it, to try to track what made them
develop it.
However, it is complicated by the fact that about 80 per cent of
children whose parents have type 1
diabetes will not develop the condition.
The national policy adviser for Diabetes Australia, Greg
Johnson, said people often mistakenly
believed that type 1 diabetes was an inherited condition. "There
is not a common understanding that
there are clearly environmental factors at play," he said.
But he cautioned that further studies would be needed before it
was clear that viruses were the
cause.
"It's complex. Viruses could be implicated but there might be
factors such as chemicals and
environmental pollutants or who knows what else," he said.
Claudette Bethune:
Another reason, beyond the known cancer and cognitive
impairment, on why
kids should never eat farmed salmon that is choked full of
viruses and toxins!
-
Dead-fish-like smell raises stink Stench from east-side
rendering plant triggers complaints, demands for action
August 15, 2012
A big stink is brewing in Vancouver's east side.
Lenore Newman, a University of the Fraser Valley professor and
east Vancouver resident, normally fights to keep farms
and food sources close to home.
But the stench that has taken over east Vancouver is just too
much, she said, and has spread too far from the source, the
rendering plant West Coast Reduction in the 100-block North
Commercial Drive.
"I'm thinking something must have gone wrong in the plant
because you should not be able to smell it [30 blocks] away,"
said Newman.
"It's this dead-fish kind of smell," she said. "You spend $1
million on a house, you don't want it to smell like fish.
"[The city] would never let a rendering plant keep operating on
the west side of the city."
Newman's argument is that this summer has been exceptionally bad
for a problem that is normally limited to a few blocks.
"A lot of people are suddenly learning there's a rendering plant
in the neighbourhood."
Newman was correct about a problem at the plant - a breakdown at
West Coast Reduction on Thursday forced a buildup
of unprocessed animal waste and an extra day of rendering
Sunday, said West Coast Rendering president Barry
Glotman.
But residents shouldn't hold their breath for action against the
company. Without any agreeable way to measure the
smell, there's no way to prove West Coast Rendering broke any
law.
Neither has Harvest Power, formerly called Fraser Richmond Soil
and Fibre, which Ray Robb, Metro Vancouver's
manager of regulation and enforcement, said triggered the
majority of this summer's odour complaints.
The summer heat and one-time breakdown are to blame for the
recent stench, but there's more at play - gentrification
and increased awareness, thanks to a proposed bylaw that will
effectively improve air emissions.
Metro Vancouver's complaint line has been ringing off the hook
with more than 50 calls this past weekend, well above the
weekly average of 30.
"You have people with expectations that are higher than the old
days where . . . people were struggling to survive and
odours were the least of their concerns," said Robb, who
monitors the area's air quality with Metro Vancouver.
The proposed bylaw drafted by Metro Vancouver is set for
community consultation in the fall.
Its model would charge for permits by high-risk odour producers.
It doesn't measure the amount of odour because a
March 2010 decision by a provincial Environmental Appeal Board
ruled that the European standard of measurement,
odour units, wasn't acceptable.
Without a measurable unit, there's no way to measure odours. All
Metro Vancouver can do is impose more means to
clean the air through technology requirements.
"If we throw enough technology at it, [the smell] will improve,"
Robb said.
Claudette Bethune: Ah, the rendering of diseased farmed salmon
into concentrated
dioxins, PCBs, and other temperature resistant pollutants into
farm fertilizer, it's a stink
that just keeps on smelling bad!
-
n3 Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with
Dysglycemia July 26, 2012
BACKGROUND
The use of n3 fatty acids may prevent cardiovascular events in
patients with recent myocardial infarction or heart failure. Their
effects in patients with (or at risk for) type 2 diabetes mellitus
are unknown.
METHODS
In this double-blind study with a 2-by-2 factorial design, we
randomly assigned 12,536 patients who were at high risk for
cardiovascular events and had impaired fasting glucose, impaired
glucose tolerance, or diabetes to receive a 1-g capsule containing
at least 900 mg (90% or more) of ethyl esters of n3 fatty acids or
placebo daily and to receive either insulin glargine or standard
care. The primary outcome was death from cardiovascular causes. The
results of the comparison between n3 fatty acids and placebo are
reported here.
RESULTS
During a median follow up of 6.2 years, the incidence of the
primary outcome was not significantly decreased among patients
receiving n3 fatty acids, as compared with those receiving placebo
(574 patients [9.1%] vs. 581 patients [9.3%]; hazard ratio, 0.98;
95% confidence interval [CI], 0.87 to 1.10; P=0.72). The use of n3
fatty acids also had no significant effect on the rates of major
vascular events (1034 patients [16.5%] vs. 1017 patients [16.3%];
hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.93 to 1.10; P=0.81), death from any
cause (951 [15.1%] vs. 964 [15.4%]; hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% CI,
0.89 to 1.07; P=0.63), or death from arrhythmia (288 [4.6%] vs. 259
[4.1%]; hazard ratio, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.93 to 1.30; P=0.26).
Triglyceride levels were reduced by 14.5 mg per deciliter (0.16
mmol per liter) more among patients receiving n3 fatty acids than
among those receiving placebo (P
-
Salmon Aquaculture and Antimicrobial Resistance in the Marine
Environment August 8, 2012
Alejandro H. Buschmann1, Alexandra Tomova2, Alejandra Lpez1,
Miguel A. Maldonado1, Luis A.
Henrquez1, Larisa Ivanova2, Fred Moy3, Henry P. Godfrey3, Felipe
C. Cabello2*
1 Centro imar, Universidad de Los Lagos, Puerto Montt, Chile, 2
Department of Microbiology and
Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, United
States of America, 3 Department
of Pathology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York,
United States of America
Abstract:
Antimicrobials used in salmon aquaculture pass into the marine
environment. This could have
negative impacts on marine environmental biodiversity, and on
terrestrial animal and human health as
a result of selection for bacteria containing antimicrobial
resistance genes. We therefore measured
the numbers of culturable bacteria and antimicrobial-resistant
bacteria in marine sediments in the
Calbuco Archipelago, Chile, over 12-month period at a salmon
aquaculture site approximately 20 m
from a salmon farm and at a control site 8 km distant without
observable aquaculture activities. Three
antimicrobials extensively used in Chilean salmon aquaculture
(oxytetracycline, oxolinic acid, and
florfenicol) were studied. Although none of these antimicrobials
was detected in sediments from either
site, traces of flumequine, a fluoroquinolone antimicrobial also
widely used in Chile, were present in
sediments from both sites during this period. There were
significant increases in bacterial numbers
and antimicrobial-resistant fractions to oxytetracycline,
oxolinic acid, and florfenicol in sediments from
the aquaculture site compared to those from the control site.
Interestingly, there were similar numbers
of presumably plasmid-mediated resistance genes for
oxytetracycline, oxolinic acid and florfenicol in
unselected marine bacteria isolated from both aquaculture and
control sites. These preliminary
findings in one location may suggest that the current use of
large amounts of antimicrobials in Chilean
aquaculture has the potential to select for
antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in marine sediments.
Citation: Buschmann AH, Tomova A, Lpez A, Maldonado MA, Henrquez
LA, et al. (2012) Salmon
Aquaculture and Antimicrobial Resistance in the Marine
Environment. PLoS ONE 7(8): e42724.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042724
Copyright: 2012 Buschmann et al. This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the original author and source are
credited.
READ ENTIRE PLOSONE ARTICLE HERE
-
Selections from: The role of persistent organic pollutants in
the worldwide epidemic of type 2 diabetes mellitus and the possible
connection to Farmed
Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar). (Altern Med Rev
2011;16(4):301-313)
Abstract Rates of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), both in the
United States and worldwide, have been rising at an alarming rate
over the last two decades. Because this disease is viewed as
primarily being attributable to unhealthy lifestyle habits, a great
deal of emphasis has been placed on encouraging increased exercise,
better dietary habits, and weight loss. Recent studies reveal that
the presence of several persistent organic pollutants (POPs) can
confer greater risk for developing the disease than some of the
established lifestyle risk factors. In fact, evidence suggests the
hypothesis that obesity might only be a significant risk factor
when adipose tissue contains high amounts of POPs. Chlorinated
pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls, in particular, have been
strongly linked to the development of metabolic syndrome, insulin
resistance, and T2DM. In addition to reviewing the evidence
associating POPs to these conditions, this article explores the
possible contribution of farmed Atlantic salmon a significant and
common dietary source of POPs with blood sugar dysregulation
conditions.
Farmed Atlantic Salmon Consumption as a Source of Exposure to
POPs In 2009 the global production of farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo
salar) topped 1.4 million tons, with commercial sales of $6.5
million.27 Salmon has been called a functional food, because of its
content of omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs) and their potential
benefits for cardiovascular disease risk reduction.28,29 Despite
the potential benefit of EFAs, farmed salmon is also a significant,
and possibly the greatest, source of dietary POPs, including PCBs.
A pilot study compared levels of POPs in farmed and wild salmon.
Total PCBs were found to average 51,216 pg/g wet weight in farmed
Atlantic salmon, versus an average of 5,302 in wild Pacific salmon
a 10-fold difference. The farmed salmon also had far higher levels
of OC pesticides and PDBE (brominated flame retardants) than their
wild counterparts.30 Two larger studies compared farmed Atlantic
salmon from around the world and wild salmon from the Northeast
Pacific. The studies used close to 600 whole salmon and filets
(totaling about 2 million metric tons each), along with samples of
the feed used in the farming operations for these fish.
Concentrations of POP contaminants, especially certain PCB
congeners, were significantly higher in farmed Atlantic salmon than
in wildcaught salmon. European-raised farmed salmon had
significantly greater contaminant loads than those farm-raised in
North and South America. Although Chinook salmon (also known as
King salmon) had the highest PCB content of any of the wild fish,
levels were still far below those found in farmed salmon.31,32 An
earlier study also reported that the mean concentration of total
PCBs in farmed salmon was 41.5 ng/g wet weight, while the wild
salmon only averaged 3.2 ng/g wet weight.33 The PCB congener
profiles detected in wild salmon were significantly different from
those in farmed salmon.
-
Upon investigation, the PCB congener profiles found in farmed
salmon often closely corresponded to samples of commercial feed
purchased in the same region. In other words, evidence indicated
that feed was the likely source of some of the characteristic PCBs
found in the farmed salmon.31 While the wild fish had PCBs with
fewer chlorine molecules, making the POPs more water-soluble (which
helps explain why they might be more likely to be consumed in the
ocean), the farmed salmon had PCBs with more chlorine atoms,31
consistent with the types of PCBs that have been detected in some
samples of fish food.31,33 Interestingly, it was PCB congeners
containing more attached chlorine molecules that were most strongly
associated with T2DM in the CARDIA cohort study conducted by Lee et
al.13 Utilizing data from these studies and from the Environmental
Protection Agency calculation for cancer risk, it has been
recommended that no one should eat more than one meal of farmed
salmon a month.32,34
Persistent Organic Pollutants Persistent organic pollutants
(POPs) are organic compounds that are resistant to environmental
degradation. Because of this, they persist in the environment,
bioaccumulate in human and animal tissue, and biomagnify in food
chains. The United Nations Environment Programme Governing Council
(GC) originally created a list of 12 POPs known as the dirty dozen.
These were aldrin, chlordane, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane
(DDT), dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex,
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins
(PCDD or dioxins), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF or furans),
and toxaphene. In recent years, this list has been expanded to
include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polybrominated
diphenyl ethers (PBDE), and tributyltin (TBT). The groups of
compounds that make up POPs are also classed as persistent,
bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBTs) or toxic organic micro pollutants
(TOMPs). These terms are essentially synonyms for POPs.
-
First-Ever U.S. Tests of Farmed Salmon Show High Levels of
Cancer-Causing PCBs
Analysis of Fish Consumption Data Shows 800,000 U.S. Adults Eat
Enough PCBs From Farmed
Salmon to Exceed Allowable Lifetime Cancer Risk 100 Times
Over
July 30, 2003 WASHINGTON The Environmental Working Group (EWG)
today released results of the most extensive tests to date of
cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) levels in farmed
salmon consumed in the United States. EWG bought the salmon from
local grocery stores and found seven of 10 fish were so
contaminated with PCBs that they raise cancer-risk concerns,
relative to health standards of the US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
Salmon farming has made salmon the third most popular fish in
America and comprises 22 percent of all retail seafood counter
sales. However, EWG analysis of government data also found that
farmed salmon are likely the most PCB-contaminated protein source
in the current U.S. food supply.
EWG analysis of state-of-the-art fish consumption data derived
from 20,000 adults from 1990 through 2002 shows that roughly
800,000 US adults are 100 times over their lifetime allowable
cancer risk by eating this contaminated salmon.
PCBs were banned in the U.S. in the late 1970s and are among the
dirty dozen chemical contaminants slated for global phase-out under
the UN treaty on persistent organic pollutants. PCBs are highly
persistent, and they have been linked to cancer and impaired fetal
brain development.
Farmed salmon are fattened with ground fishmeal and fish oils
that are high in PCBs. As a result, salmon farming operations that
produce inexpensive fish unnaturally concentrate PCBs and have a
higher fat content. Farmed salmon contains 52 percent more fat than
wild salmon, according to USDA data.
Wild Alaskan salmon eat Pacific Ocean fish that are naturally
lower in persistent pollutants, and they carry less fat than farmed
salmon.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has control over
store-bought fish, uses PCB safety standards set in 1984. For
recreationally caught fish, the EPA employs a more recent standard
that reflects current scientific concerns about PCBs and is 500
times safer than the FDA's.
FDA could not have predicted the rise of the farmed salmon
industry when it set its PCB safety standard decades ago, said EWG
Vice President for Research Jane Houlihan. The industrys growth has
been rapid and unexpected, but it is having a real public health
consequence.
EWG called for more resources to be given to the FDA so it can
move quickly to conduct a study of PCB contamination in farmed
salmon - and make all the results public. This testing is critical,
because FDA will be unable to act to lower public exposure to PCBs
in farmed salmon until they conduct these studies. Congress should
also pass a funding increase for FDA to support this testing.
In the meantime, EWG recommends that consumers choose wild
instead of farmed salmon, and they should eat an eight-ounce
serving of farmed salmon no more than once a month. Consumers
should also trim fat from the fish before cooking - and choose
broiling, baking, or grilling over frying, as these cooking methods
allow the PCB-laden fat to cook off the fish.
Wild salmon dominated the market just ten years ago. Now, six of
every 10 salmon fillets sold in stores and restaurants are from
fish raised in high-density pens in the ocean, managed and marketed
by the salmon farming industry. Before salmon farming, PCB exposure
was declining, but the trend is now being reversed due to farmed
fish.
When Congress banned PCBs in 1976, no one contemplated that
20-odd years later we would have invented a new industry that
re-concentrates these toxins in our bodies, said Houlihan.
READ ENTIRE EWG ARTICLE HERE
-
First Global Study Reveals Health Risks of Widely Eaten Farm
Raised Salmon Science Study Suggests Sharp Restrictions in
Consumption
Albany, New York A study published this week in a leading
scientific journal found significantly higher levels of
cancer-causing and other health-related contaminants in farm raised
salmon than in their wild counterparts. The study, published in
Science and by far the largest and most comprehensive done to date,
concluded that concentrations of several cancer-causing substances
in particular are high enough to suggest that consumers should
consider severely restricting their consumption of farmed
salmon.
The majority of salmon served in restaurants and found on
grocery store shelves is farmed rather than wild. In most cases, as
detailed in the study, consumption of more than one meal of farmed
salmon per month could pose unacceptable cancer risks according to
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methods for calculating
fish consumption advisories.
The Pew Charitable Trusts, one of the U.S.s largest
philanthropies, sponsored the study. Pew has sponsored major
research on fisheries including a number of widely reported recent
studies on the deterioration of the marine environment.
Whereas earlier studies have analyzed anywhere from 8 to 13
salmon samples from individual salmon farming regions, the current
study analyzed fillets from about 700 farmed and wild salmon
produced in eight major farmed salmon producing regions around the
world and purchased in 16 large cities in North America and Europe.
The studys authors, six U.S. and Canadian researchers representing
fields from toxicology to biology to statistics, selected salmon
samples to be representative of the salmon typically available to
consumers around the world.
The researchers found significantly higher concentrations of
contaminants in farmed salmon versus wild. In particular, four
substances that have been well studied for their ability to cause
cancer PCBs, dioxins, dieldrin, and toxaphene were consistently and
significantly more concentrated in farmed salmon as a group.
Geographic Differences
Among the studys conclusions, salmon farmed in Europe were
generally more contaminated than farmed salmon from North or South
America. Farmed salmon purchased for the study from supermarkets in
Frankfurt,
Edinburgh, Paris, London, and Oslo were the most contaminated
and triggered consumption recommendations
of one-half to one meal per month based on U.S. EPA consumption
advisories for these contaminants. A meal was considered to be an
eight-ounce portion.
Farmed salmon purchased from supermarkets in Los Angeles,
Washington, D.C., Seattle, Chicago, New York,
and Vancouver triggered a recommendation of no more than two
meals per month.
There was slightly more variation in fish purchased in North
America than those purchased in Europe. While farmed salmon
purchased for the study in New Orleans and Denver were generally
least contaminated triggering a recommendation of about 3 meals per
month farmed salmon purchased in Boston, San Francisco, and Toronto
triggered the more stringent consumption recommendations of the
European-purchased fish.
"Ultimately, the most important determinant of risk has to do
with where the fish is farmed not where it is purchased," said Dr.
David Carpenter, an author of the study and Director of the
Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at
Albany. "And because its a global market, its hard to be sure what
youre getting."
READ ENTIRE ALBANY.EDU ARTICLE HERE
-
Planet Earth
-
POLICYFORUM
Sustainable Floodplains Through Large-Scale Reconnection to
Rivers LAND USE If riverside levees are strategically removed or
repositioned, the result can be reduced flood risk and increased
goods and services. The Yolo Bypass while flooded
Summary Flooding is the most damaging natural disaster
worldwide, and the flood-vulnerable population is
expected to grow in coming decades (1). Flood risks will likely
increase because of both climate change (1) and shifting land uses,
such as filling of wetlands and expansion of impervious surfaces,
that lead to more rapid precipitation runoff into rivers. In the
United States, annual river flood losses
continue to rise (2), punctuated by major events in the Midwest
(1993, $30 billion in total costs; 2008, $15 billion) and
California's Central Valley (1995 and 1997; $4 billion each event)
(3). Meanwhile, pressure to develop new housing in floodprone areas
near rivers (floodplains) continues (4), even as levee-system
maintenance is chronically underfunded (5).
-
Enjoy wild Pacific salmon dinners at these restaurants:
-
Say NO to Farmed Salmon
By bringing together animals from different continents and
habitats, they create breeding grounds for new viruses
-
Sign petition here: COSTCO, Safeway & Loblaws: Please stop
selling diseased farm salmon!
Elly Edwards
Well, just got back from my 3rd trip to Superstore's seafood
dept this month to inquire about the failure to label
farmed salmon as farmed. The seafood person smiled big when I
told her who I was and why I was there, walked
me over to the farmed salmon, pointed down and said, "We'd been
meaning to get back to you. Word just came
down this morning to change the labels and it was because of
you. See, one person can make a difference." All
farmed Atlantic salmon at Mission Superstore are now labeled
"Farmed Atlantic salmon". No excuse for consumers
to say they didn't know it was farmed!!! People, get out there
and keep putting pressure on supermarkets to get rid
of farmed salmon and at the very least label them as farmed!
-
NWF: Risk of coal exports outweigh gains August 1, 2012
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- With coal declining as a U.S. power
source, the subsequent increase
in exports to Asian markets comes with major risks, an
environmental group said.
A report from the National Wildlife Federation said that U.S.
coal exports from the Pacific Northwest
would threaten public and environmental health.
"Sending more coal to Asia carries almost no benefits for the
United States but we pay the price,"
said Felice Stadler, who directs the energy campaign for the
NWF, in a statement.
"Degraded fisheries, damaged communities, medical costs, harms
to wildlife and a continued burning
of high carbon fuel will cost us dearly for decades."
The report states there are at least six coal ports under
consideration for the western U.S. coast.
Combined, they could send at least 150 million tons of coal to
Asian markets.
U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., chairman of the House Natural
Resources Committee, said last
week that tighter regulations on coal production "could result
in the loss of thousands of jobs and
economic harm to over 20 states."
The NWF counters that an increase in the use of coal would cause
environmental harm no matter
where it's burned.
-
Pants on Fire Recognition: Glenn Cooke, CEO of Cooke
Aquaculture
Wild game fish conservationists around planet earth believe that
some things we hear and read from
corporate representatives, natural resources agency
professionals and elected officials might not
reflect reality. In fact, some associate these leaders with
those who wear burning pants.
The September 2012 recipient of the Wild Game Fish Conservation
International Burning Pants
honor is: Glenn Cooke, CEO of Cooke Aquaculture.
The following are quotes by Mr. Cooke from Why we need to farm
the oceans (July 21, 2012):
There is no such thing as open pen salmon farming. Our ocean
farms, where our salmon
spend the latter half of their lives in their natural habitat,
are not open
our track record of containing our fish has been exemplary.
Our farms have not caused widespread pollution, escaped fish or
disease outbreaks
The well-financed anti-salmon-farming lobby has been promoting a
false concept that salmon
farms can and should be moved from the ocean
we know the benefits of mirroring nature by moving salmon to the
ocean when they are
physiologically ready to move from fresh to salt water
There is nothing unnatural about using a small part of our
working waterfront to grow fish to
feed the world.
-
How Tar Sands Extraction Is Destroying the Planet and What you
can do to Stop it
July 27, 2012
Its a hideous, enormous, unimaginable sight. If you were to fly
over the Canadian boreal forest, youd come across an environmental
manmade disaster that stretches for hundreds and hundreds of miles,
and is large enough to be visible from space.
Bituminous sands, also known as tar sands or oil sands, are
found naturally occurring in the Earth. They are mixtures of water,
sand and clay that are saturated with extremely thick bitumen
petroleum, and they have become commonly known as tar sands due to
the thick, tarry appearance, smell and color of the bitumen.
The Environmental Impact
Extracting tar sands requires vast amounts of energy, and is
extremely carbon-intensive, significantly more so than conventional
oil extraction. As the tar sand extraction industry expands, there
are growing concerns that initial estimates of the emissions
released through extraction processes have been grossly
underestimated.
READ ENTIRE ONEGREENPLANET ARTICLE HERE
-
Canada
Canadians are saying no to tar sands pipelines: risks outweigh
the benefits July 23, 2012
We have long heard threats from the tar sands oil interests that
if America wont allow tar sands
pipelines to cross our communities, theyll just send the oil
across Canada to Asia instead. But
Canadian communities dont like the idea of risking their fishing
rivers, farms and coastal waters to a
tar sands oil spill any more than U.S. communities do. In fact,
pipeline company Enbridges proposal
for the Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline that would cross
British Columbia is in real jeopardy.
After refusing to take a stance on the Northern Gateway project,
just this morning, the Globe and Mail
reported that the Premier of British Columbia said that the
risks of a tar sands oil spill outweighed the
economic benefits of a tar sands pipeline across the province.
And the British Columbia government
has outlined a series of concerns and minimum requirements. Yet,
given the deep concerns of First
Nations, municipalities and others in British Columbia, what is
needed is a clear message to echo
what we hear coming from Canada: no tar sands pipelines and no
tar sands oil tankers.
These are the same concerns that are driving opposition to the
Keystone XL tar sands pipeline that
would cross the U.S. to the Gulf Coast and the Trailbreaker
project that would bring tar sands east
through the Great Lakes and New England. Bringing dirty and
expensive Canadian tar sands across
our rivers and through our communities brings us the risk of
climate change and tar sands oil spills all
to benefit the oil industry. We can do better for our
communities.
READ ENTIRE NRD BLOG POST HERE
-
Canada needs energy diversity: federal documents August 4,
2012
Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press Canada is becoming vulnerable
to a planetary mega trend
toward low-carbon energy, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver
was told in newly released internal
briefing notes.
OTTAWA A dependence on fossil fuel resources is making the
country vulnerable to a planetary
mega trend toward low-carbon energy that will affect the whole
of Canadas economy, Natural
Resources Minister Joe Oliver was told in newly released
internal briefing notes.
While Canada has an enviable energy resource advantage, its
future success cannot be taken for
granted, said the briefing notes. It must make smart decisions
now in order to get ahead of
emerging challenges. The country will need to further diversify
its energy sources, ensure that it has
secure access to global markets and find ways to meet the
growing demand for energy at home in
ways that are environmentally sustainable and publicly
acceptable.
Noting that Canada was last among G8 nations in terms of clean
energy investments, the briefing
notes prepared by bureaucrats at Natural Resources Canada for
Oliver after he was appointed to
cabinet in May 2011, explained that the growth of emerging
economies such as China and India was
one mega trend influencing the economy and demand for resources
and energy.
But the documents also suggested that other countries were
getting ahead of Canada in a new
market, estimated to be worth $6.5 trillion in 2007-2008, for
green products and services aimed at
lowering carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that
trap heat in the atmosphere and
contribute to global warming.
READ ENTIRE VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE HERE
-
J'Accuse!...Fish Farmers and Our Governments July 20, 2012
Alexandra Morton laid out the case against salmon farms and
their diseases to an audience of 200 at the
Royal Vancouver Yacht Club on Monday
In 1894 a French army officer, Alfred Dreyfus, was convicted of
treason and sent to Devils Island prison. In 1896 a Paris
journalist, Emile Zola, printed an article called "JAccuse!", which
tore apart the case and led eventually to his pardon which he
accepted because he was dying on the vicious tropical Devils Island
and he was exonerated to serve, gallantly though sick and old in
combat in World War I. An Alsatian Jew, Dreyfus was seen by the
military establishment.
Last Monday night, along with 200 others, I listened to
Alexandra Morton outline the loss of our salmon and carefully and
surgically weave together the case against the fish farm industry,
the provincial government and the federal Department of Fisheries
and Oceans.
The case goes back 12 years and mirrors the Campbell/Clark
administration.
First it involved escapees from fish farms crowding native
salmon on their spawning grounds, something that continues but
became less relevant as Alexandra discovered that hundreds of
thousands of wild salmon smolts were being slaughtered by lice from
fish farms sited on their migration routes. Lately Alexandra has
concentrated on diseases imported into our waters by farmed fish.
Jaccuse both senior governments of deliberately avoiding this
issue.
Before going further let me stress a fact that is of great
importance but overlooked.
When I started helping Alex, my veterinarian, the estimable Moe
Milstein, took me aside and said Rafe, I dont know anything about
particular issue but I can tell you that when you take huge numbers
of animals and coop them up, disease on a massive basis is
inevitable.
READ ENTIRE COMMON SENSE CANADIAN ARTICLE HERE
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British Columbia
Christy Clark toughens pipeline stance as Enbridge announces
safety upgrades July 20, 2012
B.C. Premier Christy Clark called the Northern Gateway pipeline
'a very large risk to British Columbia
for our marine and terrestrial environment' with 'a very small
... benefit to our province."
Photograph by: Glenn Baglo , PNG
Premier Christy Clark toughened her stance Friday on the
Northern Gateway oil pipeline, saying the
controversial proposal poses too much environmental risk for
British Columbia while not offering
enough economic benefits.
Clarks comments came the same day Enbridge promised to add $500
million in safety improvements
to its proposal, which the company said is meant to address
concerns raised by first nations and the
public. First nations in northern B.C. were quick to say the
additional safety measures would not alter
their opposition to the 1,150-kilometre pipeline between the
Alberta oilsands and Kitimat, however.
Clark spoke one day after she held extraordinary face-to-face
meetings with the premiers of Alberta
and Saskatchewan as well as a phone call with Prime Minister
Stephen Harper giving all three a
warning that her government will next week lay out its demands
on the Gateway project.
I was giving them the heads up on what were going to be talking
about next week because I dont
want my colleagues, particularly our neighbours in Alberta and
Saskatchewan, to be surprised, Clark
told The Vancouver Sun Friday.
Clark said that as early as Monday she will provide a little bit
more detail about what British
Columbians need to see out of the proposal in order for it to
work for us.
British Columbians want to have our environment protected and
they want to know that were going
to be looking out for their best interests when it comes to jobs
and economic benefits, she said.
READ ENTIRE VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE HERE
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First Nations outraged by Clark's Enbridge pipeline 'sales
pitch' July 28, 2012
Douglas Channel, the proposed termination point for an oil
pipeline in the Enbridge Northern Gateway
Project, is pictured in an aerial view in Kitimat, B.C., on
January 10, 2012.
First Nations opposed to the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway
Pipeline project are accusing B.C.
Premier Christy Clark of selling out British Columbians and
putting a price tag on the future of
aboriginal people.
The Yinka Dene Alliance, a group of five First Nations in the
B.C. Interior, issued a statement
Saturday, saying it rejects Clarks sales pitch.
The B.C. government said earlier this week it wont support the
$6-billion Enbridge project until five
environmental and fiscal conditions are met, including B.C.
getting a much larger share of economic
benefits such as resource royalties or other tax revenue.
Another one of the five conditions was that legal requirements
for aboriginal and treaty rights must be
addressed and first nations be allowed to benefit from the
project.
However, the aboriginal groups claim the premier is bargaining
with land that they say will never be
for sale at any price.
It is absolutely unacceptable for our premier to play a game of
the Price is Right while putting our
lands, our waters and our futures at risk to devastating oil
spills, said Terry Teegee, tribal chief of the
Carrier Sekani Tribal Council.
-
This is our lives, the well-being of our families that she is
playing with. We wont let her sell our lands
out from under us.
Chief Martin Louie of the Nadleh Whuten First Nation said the
government cant put a price tag on
our future, adding that the alliance is committed to fighting
the project.
Clark has admitted that B.C. will take 100 per cent of the risks
from tankers and most of the pipeline
risk. For her to turn around the next day and start bargaining
for royalties thats knowingly trying to
sell all British Columbians out, said Louie.
On Friday, Clark refused to sign onto any national energy
strategy until B.C.s dispute with Alberta
and the federal government over the Northern Gateway oil
pipeline is resolved.
The Enbridge project would carry oilsands crude, or bitumen,
from northern Alberta to Kitimat, for
shipment to Asia.
The Enbridge Pipeline Project Proposal and the potential impacts
of a spill from the pipeline
and or a Super Tanker have far reaching implications beyond the
Northwest Coast of BC!
Imagine 225 Ultra Crude Carrier (Super Tanker) of over 1000 feet
long, 160 feet wide, 110 feet
deep and 1.4 Billion pounds when fully loaded, going at 16
knots, traveling into our water
ways, meandering through narrow and potentially treacherous
channels. Keep in mind that it
takes up to 3 kms long (a full 15 minutes) to go from full speed
ahead to full reverse. Now
imagine it hitting a rock, spilling up to 2 million barrels of
bitumen (unrefined highly toxic
tar/oil). That is 10 times the volume of Exxon Valdez.
-
Enbridge stirs up controversy with depiction of waterway Critics
say video an attempt to mislead public
August 15, 2012
Enbridge Inc. says its video, which depicts Douglas Channel as
an open waterway, is meant to be
"broadly representational."
Enbridge deleted 1,000km of BC's islands off of its public
videos and maps to convince the public its pipeline and oil tanker
plan is less dangerous than it really is.
-
About 1,000 square kilometres of islands have disappeared from
Douglas Channel in an animated
depiction of Enbridge Inc.'s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline
and tanker route.
The project would send bitumen by pipeline from Alberta's
oilsands to Kitimat, where it would be
loaded onto tankers for export to Asia.
A video on the Enbridge website shows Douglas Channel as a wide
open funnel leading from Kitimat
to the Pacific, omitting the narrow channels, islands and rocky
outcrops that make up the potential
tanker access route.
The view of Douglas Channel sprang to public attention after
Lori Waters, a Vancouver Island
researcher and owner of a biomedical communications company,
created overlays and maps
showing the real Douglas Channel and posted the images on
Facebook.
Reaction against Enbridge - which is fighting an image problem
because of recent pipeline spills -
was swift.
"I find the pictures shocking. It's reprehensible behaviour,"
said University of Victoria climate scientist
Andrew Weaver.
"These images are disturbing enough to make me no longer trust
anything coming from Enbridge. It's
utterly shameful," he said.
However, Enbridge said the video is an obvious animation and
contains a disclaimer that says it is
"broadly representational."
"That video is meant to be for illustrative purposes only. It's
not meant to be to scale. It's meant to
illustrate the pipeline route, not the marine aspects of the
operation," said Enbridge spokesman Todd
Nogier.
"There's a disclaimer at the end because it's really clear this
is meant to be illustrative," he said.
The video is meant to be pleasing to the eye, but viewers would
not mistake it for a detailed map,
Nogier said.
A tanker safety video showing Douglas Channel in detail and to
scale, together with technical
reports on every aspect of the marine route, are on the Enbridge
website, he said.
"If they are trying to conclude that we are trying to mislead
people, nothing could be further from the
truth. There's lots of information there. It's all there and
it's all for public viewing," Nogier said.
However, groups opposed to the proposed pipeline and tanker
project believe the video is an attempt
to mislead.
The Enbridge view of Douglas Channel would make anyone who knows
the area chuckle, said Eric
Swanson of the Dogwood Initiative.
"In reality, it's a twisting path through rocky islands and
granite outcroppings, including 90 degree
turns, but it's shown as a sparkly, open channel," he said.
"They are certainly painting a rosy picture of a very
complicated and dangerous waterway."
The video fits with recent Enbridge advertising campaigns,
Swanson said.
"It's more hyper-positive imagery because they know they have a
problem because of the spills," he
said.
READ ENTIRE TIMES COLONIST ARTICLE HERE
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Video: Northern Gateway Pipelines and Tankers - Whats at
Stake?
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Northern British Columbia Tourism Boycott March 31, 2012
Like many of you we are extremely concerned with what is going
on in the press these days. Thus the urgent letter below, please
read it, if youre local call your mayor, if youre not, please help
us because the deck is really stacked against our pristine lakes
and rivers.
Support our boycott on all business in communities which are not
willing to protect our environment in hopes of getting a financial
handout from Enbridge. Let us send a clear message to communities
who dont respect our environment enough to protect it.
Please DO NOT BOYCOTT small fishing businesses that reside
outside of any community boundary, because they are as much a
victim of those who support oil for greed.
_ _ _ _
Greetings fellow sport fishing enthusiasts, I am writing this to
all of you, all over the world because we desperately need your
help on two major fronts, both could permanently extinguish fishing
as we know it for our generation and that of our childrens and
possibly much longer.
The first and foremost problem is the Enbridge Northern Gateway
Project which the Prime Minister of Canada appears to be declaring
a project that will go ahead regardless of the National Energy
Board Hearings.
The second is Fish Farming, and its unregulated ability to hide
scientific facts, its attacks on free speech and attempts to
silence those who dare to speak out against them.
First Nations have done their part, they stood up and spoke, all
against Enbridge and Albertas need to cash in on the horrific oil
sands that are killing the Athabasca River, and sending this toxic
mess into the Arctic Ocean. Read what the Swan River First Nation
and the Dene Nation and the Driftpile First Nation have testified
in the link below.
Parts 6, 7 and 8 of their testimony refute what Alberta is
admitting, and refutes what Ottawa is admitting in regards to toxic
pollution and killing of fish and wildlife.
Here is where we have a problem, the cities, towns and villages
appear to want it both ways, they want your tourist dollar, and
they also want any dirty Oil Dollar they can get as well.
We need you; the people of the world to write to the mayors of
each community and ask them why tourists could come to a community
that wont protect its natural resources. Why should tourists come
and spend their money if the leaders of these communities dont take
a stand in protecting our lakes and rivers from the worst threat
ever in the history of British Columbia.
Ask these mayors how many people will come to visit if we end up
with a mess like they did on the Kalamazoo River.
Imagine what this will look like if there is an oil spill like
in the image below. This is the Bulkley River near Quick.
-
This will extinguish all salmon and steelhead stocks, and in
particular it will extinguish the almost extinct remaining two
sockeye strains that are now listed as endangered species. A spill
like this will kill not only the Morice Bulkley watersheds, but it
will contaminate the entire Skeena River watershed.
This is not a political issue, it simply a fact, you either are
willing to protect the environment or you will not, why is almost
irrelevant, it does boil down to which communities tourists should
visit, namely those who are willing to protect our environment.
As of today we are not aware of many that are willing to stand
up and say No to Enbridge, so it would be fair to say they do not
support our environment until they make a public declaration
stating otherwise. If you want your status changed, then tell the
world you oppose the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline.
Please note this list is only the communities, not attached
aboriginal communities. All aboriginal communities along the
pipeline are on record as opposed to the Enbridge Northern Gateway
Pipeline. If we are wrong, please send us an email at
webmaster(at)bcfishinreport.com
Prince Rupert Supports our Environment (Visit this great
community)
Terrace Supports our Environment (Visit this great
community)
Kitimat Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Kitwanga Supports our Environment (Visit this great
community)
Hazelton Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Kispiox Supports our Environment (Visit this great
community)
Moricetown Supports our Environment (Visit this great
community)
Smithers Supports our Environment (Visit this great
community)
Telkwa Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Houston Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Granisle Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Burns Lake Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Fraser Lake Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Vanderhoof Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
Prince George Does not support our environment. (Boycott)
-
We would like to extend a challenge to all fishing websites to
publicly post a list of the communities above as to their support
or lack of support for our environment and encourage tourists not
to vacation in locations who care so little for our environment
that they do not have the courage to defend it and stand up and say
no to any further construction of any pipelines that carry that
toxic sludge through our ever more vulnerable lakes, rivers and
mountains.
Likewise we ask that every environmental website in the world
also joins us in a boycott to end this fence riding by municipal
councilors.
_ _ _ _ _ _
Anyone wishing to share information in regards to rivers or
lakes is asked to please CLICK HERE
We are always in a state of construction, because we keep
finding more information we feel would be helpful to you.
From the folks at Pacific Northwest Fishing Report, thanks youre
your support.
Let us never let our guard down in protecting this heritage that
we borrow from our children, so that they to might share in the
excitement we treasure so much.
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Five years after Burnaby oil pipeline rupture, residents rally
against Kinder Morgan expansion August 16, 2012
Five years after a construction mishap covered a Burnaby
neighbourhood with oil from a ruptured pipeline, residents are
still dealing with its aftermath. Pictured is Mary Hatch, who lives
in the 7200-block of Inlet Drive.
The oil that slicked trees and blackened lawns has long been
cleaned from the homes hardest hit by the rupture of Kinder Morgans
Trans Mountain pipeline five years ago.
But the painful memories remain and have turned some longtime
Burnaby residents into fervid critics trying to mobilize their
newer neighbours to fight against its proposed expansion.
Retired elementary teacher Mary Hatch, 66, is not your
stereotypical eco-warrior. Before the spill covered the property
shes shared