One Year Later: I continue to seek Gulf Shrimp and eat it.

[Stinky The Clown]

We don't eat as much meat as most people do. We prefer seafood. Asian farm raised shrimp is pretty much the alternative to wild caught Gulf Shrimp. The taste. texture, and flavor profiles aren't even close. So those are my selfish reason to buy Gulf shrimp.

But there's another reason.



And another reason.



And another.



And another.



And another.



These people are Americans, just like you and me. And they were devastated and lied to and abandoned. They're watching their livelihood, their very way of life, disappear.

Yeah, I eat Gulf Shrimp . . . . on purpose.

If there's a risk, I'll accept it. I am an old coot. I couldn't care less.

[NYC_SKP]

1. I'm with you, but also not fond of imported Asian seafood for a multitude of other reasons...

Jobs being but one.

Also, transport impacts and the general lack of concern for the environment by the food industry there (and here).

K/R for the shrimpers.

[Kalun D]

25. I Can Agree With This Attitude

especially as you get older
but please don't feed this stuff to the kids. This stuff is really toxic and causes permanent damage.

[badtoworse]

2. It's hard to find in the northeast - any thoughts?

[CTyankee]

7. I have found frozen Gulf shrimp in my supermarket, Stop and Shop.

It is more expensive than the Asian stuff, but I am wary of the imports as I don't believe their countries have the food safety standards that we (still) have in the U.S.

I try to buy only U.S.A. or Canadian fish. Sometimes I get salmon from Norway (I trust their food safety). Luckily, up here in New England we do get fresh cod and halibut, which I eat regularly. Plus, I adore the Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard oysters. They are divine!

[badtoworse]

8. I'll look. there - thanks

[bluestate10]

29. Look for shrimp with reddish color. Farm raised shrimp is gray or greenish. nt

[earthside]

3. New nuclear power plants ...

... would mean jobs for Americans, too.

But atomic electricity generation is unsafe and unhealthful.

I guess it is fine for you to take the "risk" of ingesting possibly tainted shrimp -- but I'm not going to risk nausea or other maladies just because of some photos.

BP ought to be paying-off displaced shrimpers for as long as it takes ... if that's not happening then that is where the scandal arises.

But risk my well-being for the sake of eating something I don't have to ... not me.

[flamin lib]

4. I'm 63 years old and don't worry about accumulating stuff that might

make me sick. May not feed it to my grand kids but me, I likes me some Gulf shrimps . . .

[AlabamaLibrul]

5. You're braver than me, I must admit

I do not eat the local seafood at this time.

It breaks my heart, but I can't. I can't deal with getting sick from some bullshit seafood covered in toxins right now.

[Generic Other]

6. I don't eat tainted food if I can help it

Test it and give honest results. Private labs doing testing come up with scary results. It may look tempting to eat, but so do toadstools in the woods.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. Raw Story has info on testing, for anyone who cares to check it out.

Their story is dated Nov. 2010, and says independent testing shows problems, but government sanctioned tests do not,
because
government sanctioned tests use deveined, cleaned shrimp, and look for problems only in the flesh, not the parts we normally eat when do a shrimp boil
And
only test by smell.

Here are some excerpts:

"Experts operating states apart confirm toxic content in not just shrimp, but crab and fish too"

“The sensory test employed by the FDA detects compounds that are volatile that have an odor;
we’re detecting compounds that are low volatility and are very low odor,” he added.
“We found not only petroleum in the digestive tracts , but also in the edible portions of fish.

“We’ve collected shrimp, oysters and finned fish on their way to marketplace — we tested a good number of seafood samples and in 100 percent we found petroleum.”

"The FDA says up to 100-PPM of oil and dispersant residue is safe to consume in finned fish, and 500-PPM is allowed for shellfish."
and
"polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which are toxic to the brain and nervous system....has been found in virtually all NOAA samples of Gulf seafood, but very few samples exceeded the maximum allowable levels set by federal safety regulators. Even so, according to Dr. Sawyer, PAH levels detected by the NOAA in Gulf region shrimp were almost always 10 times that of levels found in shrimp farmed inland."

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/10/activist-lab-tests-show-dangerously-toxic-substances-present-gulf-shrimp/


The FDA solves contamination problems by allowing certain amounts of the contamination in the foods.
All I know is, when I was growing up, there were no acceptable FDA approved limits for oil, chemicals,
and now, radiation, in my food.
I do know we have captive regulatory agencies, for me they have zero credibility ,
which they have worked hard to earn over the last 20 years.

[hobbit709]

9. I get my shrimp from bay shrimpers in Port Aransas.

Since I have friends who live there and come up to Austin on a regular basis and I get them at the right off the boat price too.

[Rowdyboy]

11. I'm with you brother....everything these days is a risk and I LOVE gulf seafood!

With all the problems we face, worrying about shrimp seems kinda silly.

[Uben]

12. I haven't stopped

I love to eat those jumbo gulf shrimp! I drive a long way to get it, too.

[bluestate10]

30. I can only get the medium Gulf shrimp. How can I get jumbo Gulf shrimp.

I live in the northeast and am willing to pay more to get large Gulf shrimp. I can get the large imported shrimp, but prefer not to eat that.

[Uben]

33. Not sure

I go to Corpus Christie, Tx and have a friend who lives there get them for me. They are huge! It's about an 8 hr drive for me, one way, so I only make it down there about once a year.
I had an uncle who owned a shrimpboat in Louisiana for many years, and all I had to do was drive down and get all the shrimp and rock crab I wanted, but he died over ten years ago.

[Leftist Agitator]

13. Every time I go to Kroger, Gulf shrimp are in the markdown case.

Nobody who pays attention to where their food comes from wants to eat them, and for good reason.

I never saw Gulf shrimp marked down a few years ago...

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

14. Same here although it's not always easy to find them. I am a shrimp lover and the

Asian farm raised shrimp pale in comparison and the thought of what those farms might be like makes me nervous. I stopped buying them even if they are so cheap when on sale.

[daa]

15. Sorry to disagree but

those same sad faces could have worked in the Peanut Corp. of America plant in Blakely, Ga. But you know, people died eating Peter Pan peanut butter and Peter Pan has problems again. Same with spinach, people die.

I will not touch Gulf seafood. I used to live in Tampa and love it but I take no chances. Look how sick many of those people are down there.

I wrote to a noted professor working down there studying the Gulf and you probably want to be very judicious of what you eat from the Gulf.

[CrossChris]

16. BP should be the ones taking care of everyone pictured---instead of us making ourselves sick.

But that's their policy---make everyone sick, and even kill a bunch of people.

We're garbage to them. Don't make yourself sick by eating someone else's spill, and playing into the role they've made for us.

[Imagevision]

17. Obama allows BP. to take care of Gulf people without monitoring so their screwed...

[flamin lib]

18. The Gulf of Mexico is not a pond, it's constantly refreshed by the gulf stream.

The solution to pollution is dilution, at least in this case. I'm willing to bet that all the water in the gulf has cycled several times so any but the heavy tar balls has long since moved into the Atlantic. Not that that's a good thing but short lived animals like shrimp and smaller fish (not Mackerel or other large predator fish} should show a minimal residual chemical contamination.

There will remain some level of contamination for near a decade, but again, short lived animals that don't accumulate loads from the food chain below them willl pose a minimal risk. Wish I could say the same about oysters 'cause I loves me some half shell oysters.

FYI, large predator fish like Mackerel, Tuna, Ling and such aren't really good for you regardless of where they're caught because of the concentration of pollutants from the food chain.

[Kalun D]

26. Don't Kid Yourself

they didn't clean even 10 percent of the spill, and they sank the rest of it, it's on the bottom. It's not drifting away in the current.

Plus this stuff is laying on the bottom and isn't that where shrimp feed?

Feel for you though, worked a summer in New Orleans, got to love that fried butterfly shrimp.

[TheKentuckian]

19. I'm not sure a hand to mouth attitude on this one is the best route.

Do we have a handle on the population numbers? I'd think we'd be giving the stocks a season or two or three before we encourage people to gobble up Gulf seafood, it could help the shrimpers and fishermen now at the expense of their futures and the life web in that habitat.

I don't think this is a prudent course.

[yawnmaster]

20. I'm in. love shrimp. Will eat gulf shrimp with no worry - quite the contrary. eom

[Generic Other]

22. two words: Minamata disease

a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning. Symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, narrowing of the field of vision and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cases, insanity, paralysis, coma and death follow within weeks of the onset of symptoms. A congenital form of the disease can also affect fetuses in the womb.

Minamata disease was first discovered in Minamata city in Kumamoto prefecture, Japan in 1956. It was caused by the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater from the Chisso Corporation's chemical factory, which continued from 1932 to 1968. This highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated in shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea, which when eaten by the local populace resulted in mercury poisoning. While cat, dog, pig, and human deaths continued over more than 30 years, the government and company did little to prevent the pollution.

As of March 2001, 2,265 victims had been officially recognised (1,784 of whom had died)<1> and over 10,000 had received financial compensation from Chisso.<2> By 2004, Chisso Corporation had paid $86 million in compensation, and in the same year was ordered to clean up its contamination.<3> On March 29, 2010, a settlement was reached to compensate as-yet uncertified victims.<4>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamata_disease

[yawnmaster]

35. two other words: not worried. eom

[pacalo]

21. Thank you, Stinky (& Sparkly, too)!

:yourock:

[RB TexLa]

23. I never stopped, I don't know who said consuming petroleum was so bad for you.

[madokie]

24. I've been eating it right along with you man

for the same reasons too.
Rec

[bluestate10]

31. Count three. nt

[madinmaryland]

27. I very rarely eat shrimp (gulf shrimp), but I do love it! Actually I could go

for some Maine Lobster. MMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!

[bluestate10]

32. I would trade Maine lobster for jumbo Gulf shrimp any day of the week. nt

[bluestate10]

28. I have eaten Gulf shrimp lots. And recommend that others eat the shrimp.

You are correct. Farm raised shrimp don't come close to the beautiful flavor of wild shrimp.

[FedUpWithIt All]

34. How many of those fishermen are getting sick trying to catch your shrimp?

We have stopped eating and feeding Gulf Seafood to our young children. We feel if more people really acknowledged the dangers, the people in the Gulf and their concerns over things like deteriorating health would be more discussed and responded to.

Keep things moving as if nothing is wrong and it is easier to hide and disregard the problems.

[yawnmaster]

36. many less are getting sick catching shrimp than getting sick without a viable income.eom

[Stinky The Clown]

38. I don't hear anyone from the Gulf agreeing with you.

What I **do** hear from people in the Gulf is to come there for vacation and to buy their seafood.

I understand your intention, but I think we'd do better to listen to what the actual people are actually saying they actually need.

Neither am I criticizing your personal choices with your family. You should, indeed, do what you feel you need to do. I bet you wouldn't trust you kids to a nanny, either. I expect the people in the Gulf don't feel the need for a nanny either.

[lonestarnot]

37. Not me. I'm more for the shrimp. :)