In order to avoid potentially contaminated seafood caused by the Gulf Coast oil spill, many Americans are opting to purchase imported seafood. However, Americans may want to rethink this tactic because according to a USAToday report, buying imported seafood is still more dangerous than buying domestic seafood. Despite millions of gallons of oil being spilled into the Gulf, seafood from the U.S.still ends up being less contaminated than foreign seafood imports.

“Unfortunately, because of the spill, many people are considering imported seafood as a safer alternative to domestic. Often, it’s not,” said Marianne Cufone, director of the fish program at the Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy group that released the 2010 Smart Seafood Guide.

The FDA inspects just over 0.5 percent of food imported into the U.S., and the imports that are inspected are often rejected due to the presence of banned chemicals and antibiotics.

In contrast, the FDA and federal inspectors have tested hundreds of samples of seafood from the Gulf and found that only 0.01 percent show signs of risky residue; only one in 1007 specimens were “risky.”

Shrimp is the most popular seafood in the United States, but about 90 percent of the shrimp consumed in the U.S. is imported from other countries where seafood production and employment conditions are often not well regulated. The Smart Seafood Guide lists shrimp as the top seafood import Americans should be concerned about, citing that imported shrimp is often raised in crowded, dirty farms where it is doused with chemicals, antibiotics and pesticides.

Also among the list of worst toxic seafood imports are catfish imported from Southeast Asian countries. The FDA only inspects 2 percent of these imports, despite the 85 million pounds of catfish that arrive on American shores yearly from the Mekong River alone. Each year 220,000 tons of industrial waste gets dumped into the Mekong River contaminating food that will end up in your store or restaurant.

Other imports that may cause negative health effects include:

· Orange Roughy – Contains levels of mercury contamination that pose a health risk to children and adults.

· Yellow, silver or American eel – Contains high concentrations of mercury and PCBs (toxic chemicals harmful to human health)

· Atlantic and Farmed Salmon – Contains high levels of PCBs and is also often contaminated with pesticides and antibiotics.

The Seafood Guide provides general buying tips:

• Choose domestic over imported.

• Choose local foods over those shipped from far away.

• Choose wild.

• Ask if the species was caught by hook and line, handline, troll, jig or speargun.

• Choose seafood that has been farmed in low- or no-output, re-circulating systems. Tilapia, shrimp, sea bream and cobia are examples of fish that are or are soon to be farmed this way in the United States.

• Avoid mercury, PCBs and antibiotics.

• Try a variety of seafood. This reduces your exposure to possible contaminants in fish that have become over-popular choices.

Unfortunately for American consumers nothing can be done to stop the flow of dangerous and unchecked imports.. The World Trade Organization (WTO) just recently ruled in favor of China when the U.S. tried to ban toxic Chinese chicken imports. As long as the U.S. remains a member of the WTO we will be unable to protect ourselves from these toxic imports. In the interest of profitability, corporations will challenge any “protectionist” laws the U.S. tries to implement and the WTO will most likely rule in their favor. No American should want the U.S. to remain in the WTO; it consistently overturns our laws and promotes so-called “free trade” over fair trade, which has led to the destruction of America’s manufacturing base, high levels of unemployment, low, stagnate incomes for Middle America, and the forced importation of dangerous foods.

Print PDF