Salmon back in the News
Well it was bad news again for salmon at the start of 2004. Or at least bad news for those who love salmon. All the newspapers featured a report that many types of farm salmon contain chemicals that may make us more likely to get cancer. The incriminated chemicals: dioxins, DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), are all organochlorines, which are linked to cancer and birth defects. The bad news for salmon farmers on this side of the Atlantic is that salmon farmed in Scotland, Denmark and the Faroe Islands had much higher levels of these chemicals than those farmed in the USA. Some scientists recommended that it was safe to eat only one portion of European salmon every 2 months. North American salmon could safely be eaten twice a month and the cleanest and safest salmon of all, wild salmon could be eaten up to eight times a month without ill effect.
The news rocked the industry as salmon lovers in Britain spend around £700 million a year on farmed salmon. Now they might be tempted to look at where the salmon was farmed. So my New Year’s advice to salmon lovers is: Buy a boat, learn how to fish, row out to sea and catch your own wild salmon. You can then enjoy salmon twice a week without fear. Otherwise you might need to add salmon to the long list of foods that are now considered slightly risky to consume.
The reason that farmed salmon is more polluted than wild salmon has been mooted to be that the farmed variety is fed a more fatty diet than is consumed by their wild brothers and sisters. This means they accumulate more fat in their bodies and it is in this fatty tissue that the incriminated organochlorines are apparently stored, waiting to be consumed by lovers of smoked salmon bagels with cream cheese, pepper and lemon juice. With cream cheese high in cholesterol it seems another fast food favourite has taken a bit of a beating.
And more bad news for male fertility
We have known for a few decades now that the male sperm count is falling. However a recent study of sperm counts over the last decade confirms that the situation is indeed worrying. It was the most comprehensive study of sperm counts ever done with the semen of 7500 men monitored between 1989 and 2002. The alarming results showed that the average sperm count had fallen from 87 million sperm per ml of semen to 62 million. Now, a man with a 60 million sperm count is still pretty fertile. The problem is that the study shows that the sperm count is continuing to drop at an alarming rate. If this continues, most men born in the middle of the next century could actually be infertile. Now this may not be a problem for anyone alive at the moment (sigh of relief) but for the future of the human race, it’s a terrible prediction. A new society may emerge where there are infertile males and fertile alpha-males who will be much in demand.
The real problem is: Nobody really knows the cause of the problem. The men in white coats think that sperm count is determined while men are babies in utero and think that environmental factors such as pesticides may be to blame. But nobody is sure at all. For those concerned about the future of the human race, it’s worrying news.
Homeopathic Tip of the Week: Dental issues
Having some dental work soon? When a dentist drills into your teeth, it’s a bit of a shock to the body according to the homeopathic point of view. That great homeopathic remedy for shock and trauma, Arnica, is the remedy to think of. So next time you have a filling or root canal or any other dental process besides dental hygiene, consider taking Arnica 6c, one pill three times a day for two days, starting immediately after dental treatment.
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