In Louisiana, two U.S. Senators are pushing back against the NRDC s relentless efforts to promote their usual irresponsible, unscientific claims. Despite rigorous screening measures and protocols for ensuring the safety of Gulf Coast seafood following last year s devastating oil spill, the NRDC continues to claim that these food products contain toxic levels of chemicals and are dangerous to eat. The group reported in October that the FDA s testing methods were faulty; they thus created their own unique method of risk assessment and declared that the seafood was putting vulnerable consumers at risk.
The NRDC s methods were, of course, widely condemned by public health officials, but, as usual, this did not stop their report from scaring the public something that this region, desperately attempting to recover from the effects of the BP oil spill, certainly does not need.
Now, Louisiana s two U.S. Senators are issuing a bipartisan call to the FDA to publicly and vigorously declare Gulf seafood safe to eat, in order to finally lay these unfounded fears to rest. In their letter, the Senators write that some groups continue to spread misinformation and unscientific claims about the safety of Gulf seafood. If the FDA heeds their requests to be more vocal in their declarations that Gulf seafood is safe to eat, this could go a long way toward aiding the region s recovery.
