The Safety of Seafood from the Gulf of Mexico
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-07-01/safety-seafood-gulf-mexico
The B-P disaster has raised concerns about possible contamination of seafood from the Gulf of Mexico. Setting safety standards for consumers and the fishing industry.
Guests
Steve Murawski
Director of Scientific Programs and Chief Science Advisor for NOAA - the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Caroline Smith DeWaal
director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest
Don Kraemer
Acting Deputy Director of F.D.A.'s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
George Barisich
3rd generation American-Croatian commercial fisherman. He is President of the United Commercial Fisherman's Association in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.
David Fahrenthold
Washington Post environmental reporter.
Comments
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Are we to beleive that the "highly toxic" mystery cocktail will have no effect on human health when people eat fish? This does not pass the common sense test. The gentleman who spoke and reassured us that the chemicals will not be in the fish was not the least bit convincing. The precautionary principle leads me to decide NOT to consume gulf seafood.
Well trained scent detection dogs can screen large quantities of seafood quickly and economically.
K9s can detect PAHs at much lower levels than human inspectors.
K9 teams can detect hydrocarbons reliably in frozen seafood and screen the entire load rather than a few selected specimens.
When the K9 inspection team identifies hydrocarbon VOCs the product lot can be embargoed until specimens can be analyzed in a food science lab with a spectral analysis for confirmation of the oil contaminates.
We currently have a demonstration K9 team in production.
We could have a full scale program up and running within six months, if approved
I wouldn't touch anything that comes out of that Gulf no matter how safe the 'experts' Claim they are safe.
They're experts at one thing...lying.
For the guest to say that the safety of the fish/shelfish has proven to be a non-issue regarding the dispersants used to disperse the PAH spilled is not entirely correct. In the case of COrexit 9527, the solvent utilized is ethylene glycol monobutylether ( 2 Butoxy-ethanol) overexposure to your skin may cause kidney failure and eventualy death. Also I have not heard them talk about the LC50 of the dispersants. Please look at Nalco and EXXON product bulletin for COrexit 9500, 9527, 9580 or the MSDS. All the products are listed as toxic verbatim
Also dispersants only complicate the problem they don't eliminate the problem only move it into the lower levels of the water column.
The K9 communicates its findings with a passive alert... the same way as a bomb or arson detection K9.
Positive and negative samples are identified and confirmed with laboratory analysis.
This is a highly accurate mass screening process that is very similar to bomb and drug detection
The K9 team can screen conveyor belts, pallets or containers with the same techniques that our bomb dog teams utilize to screen pallets of cargo before they are loaded on a cruise ship or check baggage on a moving conveyor belt.
The K9 team is a tool that enables a well trained food inspector to quickly and accurately screen large quantities of product to produce real time on-site results to identify suspect samples that require further inspection.
We can bolster the public's confidence in the safety of the seafood that is available on the market with a voluntary food labeling program that identifies seafood that has undergone an intensive multi-layered inspection process that includes K9 teams for olfactory screening and laboratory testing in addition to our existing safeguards that already exist in the market.
K9 teams are trusted by the public.
I believe that we can boost consumer confidence and encourage people to eat seafood that is demonstrated to be safe. We can mitigate the damage to the fishing, seafood and restaurant industries in the same way that we convinced the public that it is safe to fly after 9/11.
K9 teams can be deployed faster and at a much lower cost than any other technology currently available. Nothing is as fast, flexible or more reliable than a well trained K9 team
When the moderator lacks expertise in the topic of discussion the guests are free to make unsubstantiated remarks and comments. On Science Friday this does not happen so much during discussions of technical issues because the moderators are technically savvy. I realize that the Dr Show is geared for an audience that is itself weak on scientific and technical issues and that the jargon that science-types use would cloud the issues for them. Would it be possible for there to be two interviewers at once; one (Susan or Diane) to make sure the audience is getting understandable information together with a knowledgeable scientist/technologist to at least pop in when a guest has clearly and intentionally made exaggerated or misleading statements?
I have been a fan of the D R Show for many years!