Toxins in Your Fish Oil Tablets

Fatty predatory fish like sharks, swordfish, tilefish, and albacore tuna may be high in omega-3 fatty acids, but due to their position at the top of the food chain, these species may also accumulate toxic substances through what they eat. For this reason, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends limiting consumption of certain (predatory) fish species (e.g. albacore tuna, shark, king mackerel, tilefish and swordfish) due to high levels of toxic contaminants such as mercury, dioxin, PCBs and chlordane.

The omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil are thought to be beneficial in treating excessive triglycerides in your blood and it is beneficial in preventing heart disease..The Question is is there more benefit to taking fish oil  or there more risks from the contaminates ? Would it be better to get the Omega-3 from another source?

Contaminants

 Mercury is an element sometimes called quicksilver. It is Toxic. The burning of coal and gold mining release mercury The mercury that ends up in the atmosphere and may increase the amount of mercury in the oceans.Fish store the murcury in the form of methylmercury As mercury and methylmercury are fat soluble, they primarily accumulate in the viscera, although they are also found throughout the muscle tissue of fish.

Dioxin  is a member of the class of persistent organic pollutants that is produced through combustion, in the bleaching of paper/pulp or in the chemical manufacturing process. In regards to Agent Orange dioxin was a by-product of the deliberately accelerated production of the herbicide 2,4,5-T, one of the components of Agent Orange. Specifically the dioxin contaminating Agent Orange was 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo P Dioxin (TCDD)which is the most toxic of all the dioxins and dioxin-like compounds. The US National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the International Agency for the Research on Cancer list TCDD as a known human carcinogen. Dioxin has been found to be an endocrine disruptor, it can cause acne-like eruption of blackheads, cysts, and pustules , certain cancers, and reproductive and developmental effects (at least in animals).

Dioxin is not absorbed by plants nor is it water soluble. It can attach to fine soil particles or sediment, which are then carried by water downstream and settle in the bottoms of ponds and lakes. It continues to adversely affect people who eat dioxin-contaminated fish, molluscs and fowl produced around point sources of dioxin. However, dioxin is toxic over a long period – a scale of many decades – and does not degrade readily.

PCBs  belong to a broad family of man-made organic chemicals known as chlorinated hydrocarbons. PCBs were domestically manufactured from 1929 until their manufacture was banned in 1979. They have a range of toxicity.  Due to their non-flammability, chemical stability, high boiling point, and electrical insulating properties, PCBs were used in hundreds of industrial and commercial applications  

Once in the environment, PCBs do not readily break down. Thay may remain for long periods of time cycling between air, water, and soil. PCBs can be carried long distances and in areas far away from where they were released into the environment. As a consequence, PCBs are found all over the world.

PCBs can accumulate in the leaves and above-ground parts of plants and food crops. They are also taken up into the bodies of small organisms and fish. As a result, people who ingest fish may be exposed to PCBs that have bioaccumulated in the fish they are ingesting.

PCBs have been demonstrated to cause cancer, as well as a variety of other adverse health effects on the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system, and endocrine system.

Chlordane is a compound used as a pesticide. This white solid was sold in the U.S. until 1983 as an insecticide for crops like corn and citrus, and on lawns and domestic gardens. Depending on the site of home treatment, the indoor air levels of chlordane can still exceed the Minimal Risks Levels (MRLs) for both cancer and chronic disease by orders of magnitude.

Chlordane is excreted slowly through feces, urine elimination, and through breast milk in nursing mothers. It is able to cross the placenta and become absorbed by developing fetuses in pregnant women. A breakdown product of chlordane, the metabolite oxychlordane, accumulates in blood and adipose tissue with age

Exposure to chlordane metabolites may be associated with testicular cancer. The incidence of tumor of the testis in men with the highest blood levels.  Prostate cancer has been associated with trans-nonachlor levels, a component of chlordane. Japanese workers who used chlordane over a long period of time had minor changes in liver function.

The non-cancer health effects of chlordane compounds, which include diabetes, insulin resistance, migraines, respiratory infections, immune-system activation, anxiety, depression, blurry vision, confusion, intractable seizures as well as permanent neurological damage probably affect more people than cancer. Recent results from 8 large epidemiological studies in the United States, using CDC's NHANES data, have consistently shown of all the chemicals found in the blood of Americans, heptachlor epoxides and oxychlordane have the highest associated risk with insulin resistance and diabetes.

Some fish oil products have more contaminated than others.Sense the FDA does not require that information on the label there is no way for the consumer.There are some fish oil products that reduce the amount of PCBs.