Silent Spring

Why Risk PCB’s in Fish Oil Supplements?

Over many decades the consuming masses have been taught about the benefits of various health foods, including supplements. Omega-3 fatty acids have been one of the most popular of these supplements. Studies have shown that Omega-3 helps cut down the risk of chronic heart disease such as heart disease, cancer and arthritis and also helps in the development of the brain.

The market has grown exponentially over the last few years and it has now become a 1 billion dollar market in the U.S. And the research firm Packaged Facts has estimated that global sales for Omega-3 enhanced products will rise from $4.6 billion in 2007 to $8.2 billion by 2012.

It is a very lucrative market. A richer more health conscious public will undoubtedly buy into the benefits of fish oil supplements but they shouldn’t do so at a risk to their health. The continued presence of PCBs in fish oil supplements cannot continue to persist. Something more immediate must be done to reduce the toxic levels present in some leading brands.

The best practical measure that we can currently take is to make sure that we take personal responsibility for the supplements we consume. We need to know what goes into the various supplements we use to better our health. And we need to ensure that the very actions we take to make ourselves healthier isn’t inadvertently causing us more harm than good.

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Silent Spring

The Danger of PCB’s

PCB’s are one of the most notorious bioaccumulative man-made compounds known. They are extremely persistent in the environment and they also accumulate in the food chain… especially in fish.

PCB’s were discovered in 1929 and were once used as lubricants, within dyes, paints and pesticides and were used as plasticizers and rubberizers. They were used in almost everything, everywhere in most industrialised countries.

But it wasn’t until 1964 that its potential danger was realized and by then it was too late. PCB had entered the food chain and was already affecting all forms of wildlife.

The manufacture of PCB’s was banned in the U.S in 1977 and a number of other countries soon followed suit.
It has been known for more than 20 years that PCB can cause cancer and reproductive toxicity.

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Silent Spring

PCB’s in Fish Oil Supplements: The Culprits

The fish oil supplement that contained the highest levels of PCB’s are Now Foods Salmon Oil. Also Nature Made Cod Liver Oil available to almost anyone through online stores also had high levels of PCB contamination.

The brands that had the lowest levels out of the 10 tested were Solgar Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, Twinlab Norwegian Cod Liver Oil and GNC Liquid Norwegian Cod liver Oil.

But these were only a small sample of the available number of fish oil supplements available in the market. The levels of PCB contamination are still relatively unknown within this health food product.

Millions of people all over the world use these products daily and they have a right to know how safe they are. More thorough tests are necessary to establish the level of toxicity of ALL fish oil supplements.

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PCBs in Fish Oil Supplements

People take fish oil supplements in order to be healthy. The last thing they expect is to find that the very tablets they are taking is contaminated with PCB’s.

We have all been told about the benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids which are present in a number of fish oil supplements but what we are not told about is the higher than normal levels of Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) compounds present within them.
People want the benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids but they shouldn’t also have to weigh up the health risk of an extremely toxic man-made chemical.

The fact is that not all fish oil supplements are dangerous.

But in tests conducted by environmental lawyers using private laboratories in the U.S.A, eight out of ten makers and sellers of varieties of fish oil supplements contained unacceptable levels of PCB’s.

Under California’s state law consumers have to warned about the presence of PCB’s in their product if they are found to contain amounts above the ‘safe harbour’ limits. But no such warnings were found on any of the products.

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The Need for New Chemicals

Since the days of Silent Spring the situation relating to chemical pollutants has progressed. Everyday new chemicals are been introduced into everyday household products. Consumerism is driving the market more than ever. New better products are sought in a capitalists driven market by ever more expectant, less easily satisfied consumers. For manufacturers to out-compete their competitors they are in constant need of better ways to present, package and improve their products. And for this they need new chemicals. As long as the situation remains the same, there will always be a constant stream of new chemicals coming into the market.

Silent Spring opened up Awareness

Silent Spring documented cases of environmental abuse and forced us to question our activities. It made use aware of the impact we were having on Nature. In some ways Silent Spring slowed the accelerating rate of abuse. We became more aware but market forces still dictated our actions. We all know the damage we’re causing, but are helpless to change our ways.

Government and industry don’t really help only seeming to take action against toxic chemical pollutants after the event.
The powerful force that was once environmentalism is slowing down. Its influence though more widespread seems more diffuse. It seems that circumstances is the real controlling force towards progress; as we’re only seeking alternatives because circumstance has forced our hands.

The Importance of DDT

How could Rachel Carson have known about the possible toxic effects of DDT and other widely used pesticides? Rachel Carson had gathered a lot of facts concerning pesticide use during the period that it was used most so she had a lot of information to work with. And just as importantly she was extremely passionate about the subject matter.

Things have moved on since the 1960’s. DDT is still been manufactured but at a fraction of the rate it was produced at its peak in the mid 20th century. Unfortunately, its production is on the increase as large economic powerhouses like India and China continue to manufacture the pesticide for their own use and for export. The United States and most of Europe have banned the use of DDT.
The effectiveness and the impact of DDT cannot be denied. It was one of the chemicals that made America ‘the food basket of the world’. DDT has possibly saved tens of millions of lives. Killing pests that would have otherwise killed Man. In the third world DDT has saved the lives of millions of children, killing pests like mosquito’s that are the main vectors of malarial disease. The usefulness and effectiveness of DDT is undeniable.

Rachel Carson did not seek a complete ban on all chemicals. What she wanted was better control and better regulation of its use. She was aware that we couldn’t afford to use pesticides such as DDT indiscriminately, there was only so much that the environment could absorb. By using synthetic chemicals like DDT what we were doing was adding this chemical to the biosphere, integrating it into Nature and inadvertently incorporating it into our bodies. It was easy to fall prey to the short-term benefits of DDT. Its effectiveness was clear to see, however, its deep potential to disrupt the proper internal workings of living systems could be more damaging than any benefits we could reap from its use.

Our current position is a dangerous one. We know that chemicals like DDT are toxic, but we’re hesitant to completely ban its use because it saves lives now, in the present. This short-term acceptance is a risky affair because chemicals like DDT are been absorbed by Nature. DDT is slowly building up within the fat deposits of complex animals. The amounts are still very minute but these small amounts are accumulating. Already, we’re beginning to see the consequences of the build-up of chemicals in Nature but chemicals are such an integral part of modern day economies. It seems that we’re not going to act until something drastic occurs and by then it might be too late.

For more information go to:
Silent Spring

Rachel Carson’s DDT

What is DDT? DDT is a non-selective insecticide. It killed all insect pests good or bad. As Rachel Carson put it in Silent Spring it had the power to; ‘still the songs of birds and the leaping of fish in the streams, to coat the leaves with a deadly film and to linger on in soil – all this through the intended target of a few insect pests’.

Rachel Carson was one of the first writers to publicise the concept of bioaccumulation of toxic chemicals. She discusses bioaccumulation in reference to DDT in quite some detail, explaining how the smallest intakes of DDT are stored in fatty storage depots of animals where they accumulate every time they are ingested. This is then passed on from one animal to the next through the food chain, becoming more concentrated the further up the food chain you went.

Rachel Carson was also one of the first to highlight the capacity of chemical pollutants like DDT to move from mother to child. She discusses how significant levels of DDT residues have been measured in breast-milk and the possibility of chemical pollutants transversing the placental barrier in the womb. She even goes on to discuss the increased sensitivity of infants to the effects of toxic chemical pollutants.

Silent Spring is a truly ground-breaking book. It was prophetic in some of the predictions that it made of the possible effects of chemicals that were unknown at the time. It seemed as though she knew the possible effects of toxic chemicals like DDT. In some instances you felt as though she was writing about the endocrine-disrupting qualities of DDT itself! How could she have possibly known in 1962? Thirty or so years before the term was first used to describe the darker toxic effects of some chemicals?

For more information go to:
Silent Spring

Early History of DDT

During the time that Silent Spring was written and published DDT was one of the most widely used pesticides in the world. But the origins of DDT went back to the last quarter of the 19th century, when it was first synthesized by a German chemist in 1874. It wasn’t until just before the Second World War 65 years later that its true potential as an extremely effective pesticide was realized.

In Silent Spring, Rachel Carson cleverly writes about the almost casual way DDT was used as an insecticide. It was so universally used during the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s that it had taken on the characteristic of the familiar. It was used in homes, gardens, farms and forests in considerable amounts. From 1950-1960 more than 40,000 tonnes of DDT was used annually all over the world. At its peak, in 1963, more than more than 82,000 tonnes of DDT was produced. DDT was undoubtedly used indiscriminately and irresponsibly during this period at a considerable cost to the environment.

For more information go to:
Silent Spring

Effects of Bisphenol A

More than 700 studies have linked bisphenol A with diseases ranging from obesity and diabetes to cancer.

Animal studies have connected it to a number of serious illnesses that have become a concern in recent years due to their increased incidence in the population. The studies have shown that the chemical pollutant causes abnormal development of reproductive organs in animals, causes early sexual development in females and is connected to a worryingly large number of behavioural problems such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and autism.

In a study conducted by a team in Tufts University, Boston levels of BPA measured in people were higher than the levels required to cause effects in laboratory animals.

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Silent Spring

International Expert Groups warns of the dangers of Bisphenol A

Research groups world-wide studying BPA issued a ‘consensus statement’ in the Journal of Reproductive Toxicology in August 2007 agreeing on the dangers of the chemical bisphenol A.

Rachel in Silent Spring warned of the dangers of everyday chemical pollutants, but even though her ideas were seen as revolutionary, we have yet to learn from her message. Chemicals like bisphenol A are now more widely used than ever.

Bisphenol A has now become too integrated into our everyday lives to easily withdraw from everyday use. Yet evidence is continually accumulating about its toxic effects on living organisms.

Fortunately, Bisphenol A is an extremely weak oestrogen mimic and it doesn’t persist in the environment. However, its ubiquity means that we are constantly taking it in through our daily interactions with contaminated everyday products.

For more information go to:
Silent Spring