Are dead salmon a serious concern for people’s health?

Research scientist Nat Scholz experiments to discover how pesticides sprayed onto the land then flow into streams and rivers to give a high level of toxins, he then examines how these toxic elements affect the nervous system of the salmon.

These pesticides are widespread use across the US, and this run off into the food supply, could pose a serious risk for humans.

Scholz, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says:” We have a pretty good handle on how to assess the health effects of single chemicals in conventional toxicity trials,” also “But the real world is usually more complex, and exposures to mixtures of chemicals can be more of the rule than the exception. One of the major scientific challenges of our generation is to develop new approaches to anticipate and head off any ill effects of interacting chemicals.”

Scholz and a team of five other scientists representing the Canadian and US governments will present their research to a symposium organised by NOAA’s Oceans and Human Health Initiative.

They are expected to say that, they discovered that after salmon died in many rivers and streams, toxins were discovered that although individually pose no threat to the salmon or to humans, when combined together resulted in the death of the salmon.

This has clear implications not only for endangered salmon species, but also regarding human consumption of fresh water fish and other foods.

Scholz says that there is more study needed to find out how these toxic combinations of pesticides that are also found in land grown fruit and vegetables may be affecting people.
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