At Monday’s protests in Delcambre, several shrimpers cited potential health risks to consuming imported shrimp. “Import shrimp causes cancer,” read a sign held by shrimper Hung Thi Lam. “Friends don’t let friends eat imported shrimp” read a T-shirt worn by Erath shrimper Brian Billiot.

Although a link to cancer has not been directly proven, health concerns relating to imported — specifically, industrially farm-raised shrimp — are backed up by studies and by state and federal law. A 2008 report by the nonprofit Food & Water Watch cites pesticides, antibiotics and disinfectants as dangers associated with imported shrimp. Those things have the potential to lead to neurological damage, allergic responses to penicillin residues or infection by antibiotic-resistant pathogens, it said.

Even for shrimp themselves, “on average, an intensive shrimp operation only lasts for seven years before the level of pollution and pathogens within the pond reaches a point where shrimp can no longer survive,” according to the report. Antibiotics are an attempt to prevent disease in overly crowded ponds, but it is also possible that shrimp become resistant to antibiotics — leading human consumers to develop resistance, as well.

It is illegal to use antibiotics in U.S. shrimp farms. The report said the federal Country of Origin Labeling Law — also known as COOL — requires labels specifying whether fresh seafood was farmed or wild-caught but nearly 50 percent of fish found in grocery stores does not have a label, because it has been boiled, breaded or added to a seafood medley and is exempt from labeling requirements. Also, stores carrying only a small amount of seafood and restaurants are exempt from the requirements. “They get dumped in American markets, and people still eat them,” said shrimper and protester Ronnie Anderson of Houma.

There are local efforts to address the problem. State Rep. Fred Mills, D-Parks, authored an act in the 2009 legislative session signed into law by Gov. Bobby Jindal in July. The bill does not require restaurants and retailers to specify where their seafood originates, but it does encourage them to. It also promotes Louisiana products as a safer and healthier choice and establishes a task force to study the method and frequency of inspection for imported seafood, and the substances found in those inspections. Mills, who has done a large amount of research on imported seafood, especially seafood originating in China, said less than 1 percent of seafood entering the U.S. is even visually inspected by the FDA, and the percentage that is actually tested was not even recorded in 2007. “From the federal government standpoint, they are not protecting the health or the safety of the people of Louisiana when it comes to shrimp,” Mills said.

Much imported shrimp is grown in unsanitary conditions and trucked without refrigeration, he said. “The key to this is that I can easily outsell you on a product that’s not regulated,” Mills said. “In Louisiana, they’re regulated for water quality, shipped in a temperature-regulated truck ... the chain of authority drives the cost of the product up. Whereas if I have no oversight, I can outsell you every day. “That’s what’s the killer. It’s not a cheaper product; it’s an inferior product.”

Mills also encouraged consumers to look for where frozen seafood is caught — not processed. “We’re trying to make it where when you have labeling programs down the road, if you’re not using our (the task force’s) labeling, you have something to hide,” he said, comparing it to the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

Mark Ryan, director of the Louisiana Poison Control Center, testified before the Legislature in support of Mills’ bill. “With antibiotics, we’re always concerned, whether they’re homegrown or not,” he said in an interview Tuesday. Many of the pesticides used overseas have been outlawed in the United States because they “bioaccumulate” — move up the food chain, he said. Some are also suspected of being carcinogens. “If they are found, it’s a concern,” Ryan said.

Food & Water Watch’s study is available at www.foodandwaterwatch.org/fish/seafood/suspicious-shrimp.

(Por Mary Catharine Martin, The Daily Iberian, 26/08/2009)