WWF-UK: Baltic fish may be too toxic for Britain
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Baltic fish may be too toxic for Britain
Monday 24 January 2005
Fish from some areas of the Baltic Sea are so contaminated that they may be too toxic for British shops.
WWF's new report Clean Baltic within REACH?, shows that every year from the late 1980s to early 1990s 31 kg of polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) - a banned chemical which disrupts hormones and has been linked to cancer - accumulated in the fish caught from the Baltic Sea, and almost certainly ended up on people's plates.
Some of the fatty fish found in the Baltic, such as salmon and sea trout, do not comply with EU requirements for highly toxic dioxins - chemicals similar to those used to poison Ukrainian politician Viktor Yushchenko.
Swedish authorities have recommended that women of childbearing age limit their consumption of Baltic herring and salmon because of contamination with dioxins, furans - a dioxin-like chemical - and PCBs.
The report also reveals that several fish species, such as Atlantic salmon, sea trout, cod and turbot, have shown signs of reproductive problems in recent decades, a problem linked to the hormone disrupting nature of some of these chemicals.
The level of another hormone disrupting chemical - brominated flame retardants or PBDEs - found in herring is 5 times higher in the Baltic Sea than in the Atlantic. It is not only the fish that are contaminated. Seals, eagles, porpoises and many other species are also affected.
"Baltic species are thoroughly contaminated with chemicals", said Dr. Elizabeth Salter Green, Head of the WWF-UK Toxics Programme. "This is not just a burden of the past but a major ongoing problem".
The Baltic Sea is highly sensitive to pollution, as there is little exchange of water with the neighbouring Atlantic. As a result, the sea's contaminated water can remain in place for 25 to 30 years. Low water temperatures also mean that the chemicals biodegrade extremely slowly.
WWF is calling for REACH, the new EU legislation on chemicals, to be made as robust as possible to ensure the protection of a vulnerable area such as the Baltic Sea.
Dr Salter Green added: "This is a dreadful situation and we need the new REACH legislation to be tough enough to secure a healthier future for wildlife and people."
Some of the fatty fish found in the Baltic, such as salmon and sea trout, do not comply with EU requirements for highly toxic dioxins - chemicals similar to those used to poison Ukrainian politician Viktor Yushchenko.
Swedish authorities have recommended that women of childbearing age limit their consumption of Baltic herring and salmon because of contamination with dioxins, furans - a dioxin-like chemical - and PCBs.
The report also reveals that several fish species, such as Atlantic salmon, sea trout, cod and turbot, have shown signs of reproductive problems in recent decades, a problem linked to the hormone disrupting nature of some of these chemicals.
The level of another hormone disrupting chemical - brominated flame retardants or PBDEs - found in herring is 5 times higher in the Baltic Sea than in the Atlantic. It is not only the fish that are contaminated. Seals, eagles, porpoises and many other species are also affected.
"Baltic species are thoroughly contaminated with chemicals", said Dr. Elizabeth Salter Green, Head of the WWF-UK Toxics Programme. "This is not just a burden of the past but a major ongoing problem".
The Baltic Sea is highly sensitive to pollution, as there is little exchange of water with the neighbouring Atlantic. As a result, the sea's contaminated water can remain in place for 25 to 30 years. Low water temperatures also mean that the chemicals biodegrade extremely slowly.
WWF is calling for REACH, the new EU legislation on chemicals, to be made as robust as possible to ensure the protection of a vulnerable area such as the Baltic Sea.
Dr Salter Green added: "This is a dreadful situation and we need the new REACH legislation to be tough enough to secure a healthier future for wildlife and people."
Further information
To find out more about our work on hazardous chemicals visit our Chemicals and Health campaign website