They suggest that toxins from heavy industry, banned in Europe but still used in the developing world, have seeped into the food chain and are being concentrated in fish feed.
The Food Standards Agency, set up in the wake of the BSE crisis, refuses to set an upper limit on the consumption of farmed salmon or issue a warning on possible contamination. Yesterday it was sticking by its recommendation of one meal of oily fish per week.
The research, by Miriam Jacobs at Surrey University, found that levels of man-made polychlorinated bisphenols (PCBs) were equivalent in a 100g serving to the WHO limit on daily exposure for an adult. Children consuming 100g would be over the upper limit because of their lower body weight. PCBs are known to attack the nervous system, causing learning difficulties in children and suppressing the body’s immune system.
Ms Jacobs admitted that her survey was small, only 12 fish from Scottish fish farms, but said the results showed the need for further research. “I think the Food Standards Agency should provide financial help to assess contamination in salmon and look at ways of reducing it. The onus should not be on the farmers.”
Her finding of 3.4 picogrammes of PCB per gramme of fish meant a 100g serving would contain 340pg, or 4.86pg per kilogramme of bodyweight for a 70kg adult. The WHO recommended limit is between 1pg and 4pg per kilogramme of bodyweight. Levels of other toxins such as dioxins and furans were much lower, Ms Jacobs said.
The expensive chemical analysis was carried out on state-of-the-art equipment at the US Environmental Protection Agency in Mississippi. The results are featured in a BBC2 documentary to be shown on Sunday, Warnings from the Wild — The Price of Salmon.
The documentary includes claims that the rapidly-growing industry has had a catastrophic impact on populations of wild salmon near fish farms. It suggests that apart from spreading parasites and poisoning local marine life, farmed salmon are escaping into the wild and upsetting the genetic make-up of the wild salmon, which have evolved since the Ice Age.
In further, unpublished research, Ms Jacobs analysed fish feed and found similar levels of toxins to those found in farmed salmon. She added: “There is a strong indication the contamination is coming from the fish feed which should be investigated further.”
Dr Michael Easton of the David Suzuki Foundation in Canada, also analysed fish and feed for the documentary. He said: “The results were very, very clear: farmed fish appeared to have a much higher level of contamination and in wild fish the difference was extremely noticeable.”
Fish feed manufacturers yesterday insisted their products were safe, even though there are no statutory UK limits on contaminants. Stuart Barlow, director-general of the International Fish Meal and Oil Manufacturers’ Association, said: “Levels of dioxins have decreased by 50 per cent because the level of emissions are falling. Because it is illegal to use PCBs, they too are decreasing in the environment and I would think they have decreased in the food.”
He said the salmon feed was made of fish oil, cereals and fish from lower down the food chain, such as copelin, sand eels, Norway pout, and anchovies from South America.
The Food Standards Agency said: “The health benefits of eating moderate amounts of fish, including salmon, as part of a healthy balanced diet outweigh any potential risk from dioxins and PCBs. The fact that PCBs can be found in the food chain, including in oily fish, is not new. The FSA has carried out 21 surveys looking at this issue and published results on its website.
“Surveys have shown that exposure to these contaminants from the diet has fallen by about 75 per cent between 1982 and 1997.”
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