MAINE, USA — Some activists in Maine are urging the state to place advisory labels on some farmed salmon due to its potential health risks, they say.
In a press release on Thursday, the environmental group Friends of Penobscot Bay (FOPB) said the town of Bucksport is planning to breed Atlantic salmon that’s been raised in water contaminated with high levels of mercury.
The group says this can lead to potential health risks for children and pregnant women. In a letter, to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the activists say they want the label for the fish to say that children under eight, pregnant women and nursing mothers should not eat the "mercury-tainted" salmon.
The state has strict mercury rules on nearly all saltwater and Maine freshwater fish, but not for farmed salmon, according to the group.
"Unlike wild salmon and open ocean net-pen salmon, RAS fishes raised solely in facilities that use water from upper Penobscot Bay or the lower Penobscot River will spend their entire lives swimming in and breathing waters known to have elevated mercury levels," said FOPB river coordinator Adrienne Caldwell.
"Let's be precautionary, " said Ron Huber, the group's executive director. “The industry proposal to reduce mercury concentrations isn't good enough."
The environmental group says it will be holding educational events in the mercury-contaminated areas.
