Gulf Grief

Image from Huffington Post slideshow of oil spill photos.

The BP oil spill warrants the growing outrage with its monstrous impact.  While most people I speak with are worried about how this will impact the price of gas, I’m worried about the price of fish.  Not about how it will affect my wallet, but what it means for ocean ecology as  hundreds of species are at risk.  Add this insult to the already injured—the Gulf of Mexico, an important biological, economic and gastronomic region, has not been thriving for quite some time.  The notorious dead zone, a hypoxic area the size of New Jersey created by Midwestern industrial ag fertilizer runoff carried to the Gulf via the mighty Mississippi, has already taken a toll on aquatic life and industry. Now, post oil spill, thousands of miles of Gulf waters are closed.

Who knows how this will affect seafood prices at your local grocery store.  Sources disagree as to how much of our nation’s fish intake comes from the Gulf catch; I’ve read as little as 1% and as high as one-third.  But certainly, we get most of our seafood from places far, far away.  Gulf shrimp is one of the many edible sea creatures that will certainly be affected by the spill, and unfortunately, Gulf shrimp is one of the few sustainable shrimp options.  Most of the shrimp eaten in the states come from places like the shrimp farms of Malaysia: where the factory like methods of raising shrimp degrade coastal habitats and communities.  (See the Environmental Justice foundations article: Farming the Sea - unregulated shrimp farming, the environment and people.)  Can we continue to export these ugly practices just so we can buy our seafood cheap?  

Even if the cost of shrimp doesn’t go up, this has cost us.  At the rate we are spoiling ecosystems and waterways it is becoming increasingly hard to support a growing population on this small planet.

Sustainable Nutrition Bottom-line: Finding sustainable seafood appears to be getting harder, but the nutrition benefits make it worth researching.  SlowFood USA recently stated in their monthly Food Chain, “We can also support the ongoing rebuilding of the Gulf and other regional seafood industries by making sure the seafood we buy is domestic and sustainably harvested.”  See past post: Finding Sustainable Seafood to learn more.  And if you’d like to get involved with relief efforts, consider supporting organizations like the Gulf Restoration Network.

Another Reason to Go Organic

                            Crop Dusting Helicopter-(Ironically Beautiful)

Not to be overly dramatic, but toxic chemicals in our food may be messing with our kid's heads.  

The newest addition to the growing list of reasons to choose organic food: high urinary organophosphate concentrations have been linked to twice the incidence of ADHD in children 8-15 years old.  Organophospates (OP), which are used in agriculture precisely because they attack the nervous system of insects, are known to accumulate in human tissues, though its often believed to be in low enough levels to not impact our health.  We are, afterall, a lot bigger than insects.  But if size matters, than wouldn't our children be the canaries in the coal mine?   A new study in the journal Pedriatrics, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Urinary Metabolites of Organophosphate Pesticides, explores the high rates of ADHD and pesticide metabolites.   From the authors:

WHAT’S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Exposure to organophosphates has been associated with adverse effects on neurodevelopment, such as behavioral problems and lower cognitive function. Studies have focused, however, on populations with high levels of exposure, relative to the general population.

WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: We conducted a study with 1139 children 8 to 15 years of age, representative of the US population. The findings showed that children with higher urinary levels of organophosphate metabolites were more likely to meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD.

So what does this mean for eaters?  Though this study has not shown a causal relationship (meaning we can't say that OPs cause ADHD) I do think it is better to be safe than sorry. I whole heartedly recommend choosing foods grown without toxic pesticides (or at least those grown without a lot of pesticides or those that are known to have lower residues of pesticides.)  The Environmental Working Group has published a list, called the Dirty Dozen, of the twelve typically most  contaminated fruits and veggies: peaches, strawberries, apples, domestic blueberries, nectarines, cherries, imported grapes, celery, sweet bell peppers, spinach, kale, collard greens and potatoes.  These foods would be best to buy organic or to grow naturally in your own garden plot. The foods found by the EWG to have the least pesticide residue, the Clean Fifteen, (sixteen are actually listed) are onions, sweet corn, sweet peas, asparagus, cabbage, eggplant, sweet potatoes, avocados, pineapples, mangoes, kiwi, domestic cantaloupe, watermelon, grapefruit and honeydew.

Sustainable Nutrition Bottom-line:  Eat your organic veggies and fruits and plenty of them!  For a clear explanation of what organic means and many more reasons why you might want to choose organic, read the past blog post, "Is Organic Better for You?".  For those folks who don't have the extra money for pesticide free food at the market, consider growing your own.  Check out Kitchen Gardeners International or the Milwaukee's own Victory Garden Initiative for more information and gardening resources.