Mass fish deaths in Singapore raise concerns about safety

[yuiyoshida]

Hundreds of dead fish wash up on the shores of Pasir Ris Beach in Singapore. Although authorities say fish harvested from local farms are safe for consumption, some members of the public are wary.

SINGAPORE: On Monday (Mar 2), Singaporeans woke up to find the palm-fringed beach of Pasir Ris covered with hundreds of dead fish.

Frequented by families, the long sandy stretch that separates a 70-hectare park in eastern Singapore from the sea was nearly deserted, as many visitors had been driven off by the foul stench of countless rotten marine wildlife, washed ashore the previous night.

"It's really not nice. We have a baby and we want the baby to walk on the beach. But today, we can't do that. It's very dirty and smells terrible," complained mother-of-one Christine, who said she normally visits the beach park with her young son twice a day. "This is the first time we see dead fish on the beach."

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/mass-fish-deaths-raise/1689292.html

[Dustlawyer]

1. The fish are ok to eat, sure! Just like oysters from the Gulf of Mexico.

Corexit and hydrocarbons only improve the taste, at least for the few oysters you can find!
Dump all the pollution into rivers and oceans you can, I mean they are so big it doesn't matter right?

[djean111]

2. Well, looks like the TPP will protect us from buyig possibly contaminated fish - not -

http://www.exposethetpp.org/TPPImpacts_FoodSafety.html

The TPP would require us to allow food imports if the exporting country claims that their safety regime is "equivalent" to our own, even if it violates the key principles of our food safety laws. These rules would effectively outsource domestic food inspection to other countries.

Under the TPP, any U.S. food safety rule on pesticides, labeling or additives that is higher than international standards would be subject to challenge as "illegal trade barriers." The U.S. could be required to eliminate these rules and allow in the unsafe food under threat of trade sanctions.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration already inspects less than 1% of all seafood imports for health hazards. Entering into the TPP with Malaysia and Vietnam, both TPP negotiating parties and major seafood exporters, would increase seafood imports and further overwhelm inspectors' limited ability to ensure the safety of our food. Some TPP countries have serious shrimp and fish safety issues. For example, even with the minimal inspections, high levels of contaminants have been found in Vietnam's seafood.

Under the TPP, food labels could also be challenged as "trade barriers." The TPP would impose limits on labels providing information on where a food product comes from. The TPP also would endanger labels identifying genetically modified foods and labels identifying how food was produced. The TPP would expand the limits on consumer labels already included in existing "trade" agreements, like the World Trade Organization (WTO). But already under the WTO, the U.S. "dolphin-safe" tuna fish label and our country-of-origin meat and poultry labels have been successfully attacked by other countries. And, under the TPP, a foreign meat processing or food corporation operating within the United States could directly challenge our policies that they claim undermine their expectations - meaning a barrage of new demands for taxpayer compensation.

And those demands will be made in a corporate court, not US courts.

[Crowman1979]

3. But the free-market knows what's best!

[PADemD]

4. Reminds me

of the opening of the movie The Seventh Sign, where the child runs back from the beach yelling, "The fish are dead, the fish are dead."