File:RBA BalticAsFoodResource.ppt

A lecture about risk-benefit analysis of Baltic fish as a food resource. Originally prepared by Jouni Tuomisto for the Baltic Sea and European Marine Strategy Conference, 13-15 Nov 2006, Helsinki.

Balancing between benefits and risks. Baltic Sea fish species as a food resource.

Dioxins are a group of highly toxic chemicals. Because of their lipophilicity, dioxins are metabolized and excreted slowly, thus bioaccumulating and biomagnifying in wildlife and humans. Dioxins have been proved to be animal carcinogens at high doses. They have been linked to many serious health effects in humans, including cancer, reproductive and developmental effects, altered immune function, and disruption of the endocrine system. Dioxins seem to be a powerful cancer promoter, rather than an initiator. We use term 'dioxin' here to refer to polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDD), dibenzofurans (PCDF) and biphenyls (PCB) with dioxin-like toxicity.

The ecosystem of the Baltic Sea is highly polluted by dioxins. EU has set the maximum PCDD/F concentration of 4 pg/g (concentrations given in WHO-TEQ in fresh weight) for fish products (EC 466/2001 and EC 199/2006: setting maximum levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs). However, PCDD/F concentrations of wild salmon and herring of the Baltic Sea frequently exceed 10 pg/g. According to the Commission regulation EC 199/2006, Finland and Sweden are authorised for a transitional period, up till end of year 2011, to place on the market these fish species, originating from the Baltic region. In Finland, the main human exposure of dioxins comes from fish and the Baltic Sea is the main source. In comparison, wild salmon from the North-East Europe had PCDD/F concentrations approximately 2-3 pg/g and salmon from the South and North America less than 2 pg/g.

We performed a risk-benefit analysis (using premature cancer and cardiovascular deaths as endpoints) on the exemption that Finland was allowed to commercially use Baltic herring and some other fish species although the dioxin concentrations regularly exceed the European maximum value. Beneficial effects of consuming fish were ten to one hundred times higher than their risks. Therefore, the exemption to allow the commercial use of Baltic herring in Finland and other countries was well-founded based on public health. After all, the motivation to set limits to dioxins in foodstuffs was originally motivated by improving public health, and the exemption is a rational continuum of this policy.