Radioactive Shrimp at Walmart: What We're Not Being Told About Seafood

Moments ago, the FDA announced a recall of shrimp being sold at Walmart because of apparent cesium contamination at a farm in Indonesia. Cesium-137 is a highly radioactive element that is most famously spread in nuclear accidents. But even in the much lower levels found in, for example, contaminated seafood, it still poses health risks including fatal cancers. (Interestingly, the primary way to counteract this risk is to eat Prussian Blue, the first synthetic pigment invented by human beings.) Accordingly, Walmart voluntarily recalled the product, and the FDA is warning consumers not to consume contaminated shrimp.

But there are two bigger problems that the FDA’s recall neglects. The first is the systemic issue of aquatic pollution. The shrimp farms in Indonesia are far enough away from historical nuclear accidents, such as Chernobyl in Russia, or Fukushima in Japan, that they were not likely contaminated by a one-time event. Rather, we are regularly treating the oceans and other waterways as dumping grounds for toxic waste. That comes back to bite us when we seek to use those same waterways as sources of food. The discussion about radioactive shrimp will no doubt get lots of attention. Very little will be said about the fact that 99% of seafood samples show evidence of microplastic contamination (with breaded shrimp being the worst offender) or that farmed salmon — like shrimp, one of the most commonly-eaten aquatic animals — show the highest levels of PCB contamination.

The second problem is that we completely ignore the impacts on the most directly-harmed parties: the animals themselves. The shrimp who are contaminating our food system are being harmed directly by farming, which involves horrific practices such as eyestalk ablation, where female shrimp have their eyes cut out to promote greater reproduction. They are also part of ecosystems involving countless other species suffering due to environmental damage. Cesium, for example, does not just cause damage to humans; it kills other animals, too. We know about the horrifying impacts of radiation because of experiments performed on dogs in the 1950s using devices like the “Hound Holder.” Many dogs had dozens of bone fractures due to cancerous tumors by the end of the experiment. Those victims will be entirely ignored in discussion of the shrimp recall.

This is just another reason why it’s not enough to talk about food, or even factory farming. A greater moral awakening is necessary to stop this cruelty. I’m glad the world is giving attention to shrimp today. But let’s give attention to the trillions of other living beings suffering under the weight of human tyranny every other day, too.