| Risk-Based Consumption Advice for Farmed Atlantic and Wild Pacific Salmon Contaminated with Dioxins and Dioxin-like Compounds Jeffery A. Foran,1 David O. Carpenter,2 M. Coreen Hamilton,3 Barbara A. Knuth,4 and Steven J. Schwager5 1Midwest Center for Environmental Science and Public Policy, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; 2Institute for Health and the Environment, University at Albany, Rensselaer, New York, USA; 3AXYS Analytical Services Ltd., Sidney, British Columbia, Canada; 4Department of Natural Resources, and 5Department of Biological Statistics and Computational Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA Abstract
We reported recently that several organic contaminants occurred at elevated concentrations in farmed Atlantic salmon compared with concentrations of the same contaminants in wild Pacific salmon [Hites et al. Science 303: 226-229 (2004) ]. We also found that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) , toxaphene, dieldrin, dioxins, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers occurred at higher concentrations in European farm-raised salmon than in farmed salmon from North and South America. Health risks (based on a quantitative cancer risk assessment) associated with consumption of farmed salmon contaminated with PCBs, toxaphene, and dieldrin were higher than risks associated with exposure to the same contaminants in wild salmon. Here we present information on cancer and noncancer health risks of exposure to dioxins in farmed and wild salmon. The analysis is based on a tolerable intake level for dioxin-like compounds established by the World Health Organization and on risk estimates for human exposure to dioxins developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Consumption of farmed salmon at relatively low frequencies results in elevated exposure to dioxins and dioxin-like compounds with commensurate elevation in estimates of health risk. Key words: dioxins, risk-based consumption advice, salmon. Environ Health Perspect 113:552-556 (2005) . doi:10.1289/ehp.7626 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 9 February 2005]
Address correspondence to J.A. Foran, Midwest Center for Environmental Science and Public Policy, 1845 N. Farwell Ave., Suite 100, Milwaukee, WI 53202 USA. Telephone: (414) 271-7280. Fax: (414) 273-7293. E-mail: Jforan@mcespp.org We thank A.M. Amos (Turnstone Consulting) for superb project management and S. Burrows for help obtaining the samples. This research was initiated and supported by the Environmental Division of the Pew Charitable Trusts. The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 28 September 2004 ; accepted 9 February 2005.
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