Citing concerns over the domoic acid poisoning that has already sickened hundreds of birds, state health regulators on Friday urged people not to eat certain types of seafood — including shellfish and sardines — caught by recreational fishermen off most of the Southern California coast.
The warning also covers the organs of commercially sold lobster and crabs as well as those caught by recreational anglers.
Health officials typically issue a warning against eating mussels about May 1. Officials say they know of no one who has been sickened. But this year, regulators decided to expand the quarantine after finding high concentrations of domoic acid in some samples of other shellfish, said Lea Brooks, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Health Services.
Friday's warning comes as hundreds of sick or dead marine birds are being washed ashore up and down the coast, their conditions linked to a particularly virulent outbreak of the naturally occurring domoic acid toxin, scientists say.
The seafood warning pertains to bivalve (two-shelled) shellfish such as oysters, clams and scallops, as well as anchovies taken off the coast of Los Angeles, Orange, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
The warning applies to seafood caught from shore and boats.
The fishing season for some of the creatures covered by the warning is ending. But other species now quarantined, such as mussels and Pismo clams, are harvested throughout the year, according to state sportfishing regulations.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Dirt, worms, and leaves
Is what we'll be eating in just a bit. LOCALLY grown dirt, worms, and leaves:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
The seafood from the Gulf of Mexico is still polluted from all of the crap that the storm surges of Katrina and Rita dumped into it when it receded.
I grew up eating oysters and fish from the local bayou, but the stuff from a restaurant dumpster would be safer today.
Is "Dirt, Worms, and Leaves" anything like the classic "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves"? :)
There is real irony here. The only critter-food I miss as a vegetarian... indeed, about the only critter-food for which there's no effective veggie substitute... is seafood, particularly shellfish. I suppose I should look at this as reinforcement of my decision not to eat critters, but considering that almost everyone else does, this is still more bad news. I do not wish to see my friends sickened or poisoned or killed by eating anything that is part of the normal human food supply.
Occasionally I see people fishing in Brays Bayou, the bayou about 100 yards from my front door. Domoic acid aside, these people are risking a great deal if they eat fish from that stream... a lot of things, probably including some human waste, go into that bayou. Bryan is right: the restaurant dumpster would be safer.
I've wondered what heavy metals the seafood was being flavored with. Does the FDA or the USDA test the stuff?
Is anyone looking out for the public health?
Gah, Steve! I hope you are up on stilts or something. Isn't it dangerous to so close to the water?
Maybe something like this happened last time Kosher laws were invented.
In the meantime, quite seriously, Kosher foods should be safe.
I would also presume any grass-fed animal is safe if ordinarily something you would eat.
How many farm animals eat ONLY grass and are not fed some sort of additional man made food?
And what happens when they use the melamine fertilizer?
What exactly are we eating?
ellroon, thanks for your concern, but it is misplaced. Not inappropriate, just misplaced: worry about the air I can't avoid breathing, rather than the water I can avoid standing in most of the time.
There is a sewage treatment plant about a mile or two downstream from me. Most days, it doesn't smell, and in any case the outbound "stuff" flows away from me. The snowy egrets and occasional great blue herons (rare these days) do not sport two heads or three eyes like those fish near the nuclear plant on The Simpsons. Even if I ate fish, I would not fish for food in that water, but that water comes to me only in extreme flood conditions such as Tropical Storm Allison. As for the water supply, a former coworker whose public health specialty was water supplies told me that ours is better than average for a large city.
I live possibly 15 to 20 miles from Houston's main industrial area, which contains many of the refineries and chemical plants. Nothing really keeps their gaseous emissions from coming straight to me if the upper-level winds are blowing in this direction. On the plus side, the winds have a pretty consistent pattern on most days, and air pollution in my zone turns "red" only a few days a year. As places in the Houston-Galveston area go, mine isn't bad.
Would I rather live with less pollution? Well, yes. But if I moved too far from here, I might have to import some air and water pollution just for nostalgia's sake.
Well, then, I won't worry about you floating off in a high tide. After Katrina, living near bodies of water connected to the Gulf of Mexico isn't a good idea.
But then, I live right below the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California. If they aren't burning up, they are flooding down, or being pushed up by our many earthquakes....
Post a Comment