DENMARK: Fish swimming in poisons

A report published last week by the National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark has caused another food scare. It shows organotin compounds have widely found their way into the food chain (birds, fish and harbour dolphins). Tributyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPhT) were found in the livers of fish caught in Danish waters. The analyses made were on liver tissue, the organ most likely to accumulate the compounds.The poisons end up in the sea from paint used on the hulls of ships, and as a fungicide on land.Fishing in Copenhagen harbour is already forbidden, where butyl tin levels in cod and flounder is 10 times higher than in the Belt Sea. Levels in harbour porpoise were among the highest in the world, with 0.33 to 4.61 mg per kg liver. At these levels, scientists have seen effects on the immune system. Researcher Bo Reiman from the National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark points out that fish with a high fat/oil content like eel, salmon and mackerel will have the highest concentration of tin. Pregnant women in Scandinavia have long been warned not to eat oily fish daily.Contact person: Bo Reimann, National Environmental Research Institute of DenmarkTel: + 45 4630 1360