Banned Chemicals Found in Popular Nutritional Supplement

Scary Supplements

The demand for Omega-3-fortified products has increased over the years following reports that consumption of  fish oils may reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. These benefits appear to be driving the development of a new market for Omega-3 enriched products including orange juice, yogurt, butter and peanut butter among others.With the market for these Omega rich fish oils increasing and big business finding new ways to introduce them into our diet, shouldn't we be aware of the toxics we could be consuming?

The contaminants were also found in the fish oil and meal used in pet food and animal feed as nutritional supplements. OmegaPure is produced by Houston-based Omega Protein, Inc., which is the largest producer of fish oil in the United States.

“Consumers have a right to know that the products they buy to supposedly improve their health could actually be putting them at risk,” said John Hocevar, Greenpeace Oceans Specialist. “Omega Protein’s products should either be cleaned-up or pulled off the market. In the meantime, consumers seeking the benefits of Omega-3 oils should consider safer sources such as flaxseed oil or algae-derived sources of Omega-3s.”

Living in a Vacuum

 
Over the past several years, fishermen and conservation organizations have expressed serious concern that the vast scale of Omega’s operations may be taking food away from striped bass, seabirds, and whales. The Omega Protein company vacuums massive quantities – hundreds of thousands of tons - of menhaden through state-of-the-art factory fishing vessels that locate entire schools of these tiny fish. Menhaden is a filter-feeder, meaning it cleans impurities in the water. That’s crucial to places like the Chesapeake Bay, where water pollution from farm and sewage runoff is creating increasingly severe problems for the bay and its inhabitants. But this hard-working little fish is disappearing fast, and its job in the food chain is irreplaceable. 

You can read more about Greenpeace's fight to save the Menhaden here.

“We first became concerned about Omega Protein after watching them do everything they could to avoid regulation of their fisheries,” said Hocevar.  “Not only does the company lack concern for the impacts of their fishing practices on the environment but there is a similar lack of concern for the contents of the supplements they sell.”

The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) laboratories – an executive agency and research body within the government of the United Kingdom - performed the analysis for the Greenpeace Research Laboratories located at the University of Exeter.

Read a report of the analysis here.