Should You Ditch Your Seafood Guides?

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From: "Tom Philpott at Mother Jones" <do_not_reply@motherjones.com>
Date: May 16, 2012 5:18 AM
Subject: Should You Ditch Your Seafood Guides?
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Subject line: Should You Ditch Your Seafood Guides?

FOOD FOR THOUGHT FOOD + FARMING FROM TOM PHILPOTT
MOTHER JONES May 16, 2012   THE MAIN DISH Should You Ditch Your Seafood Guides? In his new book on ocean health, the marine biologist Callum Roberts touches on the familiar villain of overfishing and gives the standard (and relevant) advice that consumers should strive to "eat low in the food web, so favor smaller fish like anchovies, herring, and sardines over big predators like Chilean sea bass, swordfish, and large tunas (you will be doing yourself a favor, as these predators also concentrate more toxins)." But Roberts also argues that an even more important point often gets lost amid the fishery labels and the "avoid" and "recommended" lists (as important as those things are): The oceans represent contain highly complex ecosystems that are intimately related to their terrestrial counterparts in ways that transcend fishing trends. Overfishing is "only one small piece in a much larger puzzle of interacting impacts," Roberts writes. So how much do your dining habits really matter? And what else can we do to save our oceans? [READ MORE]   SIDE DISH Does Corn Syrup Make You Dumb? A new study shows that at least for rats, the answer is yes. [READ MORE]   ADVERTISEMENT	RECIPE OF THE WEEK Halibut With Garlic and Bay Leaves Reviewing a great new cookbook sent me to the fishmonger. [READ MORE]     MORE FROM MOJO Which Kids' Sunscreens Should You Avoid? Plus, why your SPF 80 might not mean jack, why most SPF lip balms and makeups don't cut it, and why the FDA's new guidelines (still) fall short. [READ MORE]     Follow Tom Philpott on Twitter   Read the Tom Philpott blog
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