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Pfas chemicals harmful to health were found in the herring of the Archipelago Sea and the Red Sea.
The concentrations exceed the maximum amounts set by the EU, which basically prevents their sale as food.
The new research results can lead to a refinement of dietary recommendations, especially for risk groups.
The Food Agency evaluates the safe consumption amount of different fish species based on the latest concentrations of harmful substances.
Experts emphasize the health benefits of eating fish, which are much greater than the harm caused by foreign substances.
Archipelagic and pfas chemicals harmful to health have been found in herrings in the Selkämere. The concentrations of environmental toxins exceed the maximum amounts set by the EU. This means that similar batches of fish may not be sold as food.
The new research results will probably lead to more detailed dietary recommendations for risk groups, especially infants. The Food Agency evaluates the safe consumption amount of different fish species based on the latest concentrations of harmful substances.
Until now, the recommendations for the use of fish have not taken into account the PFAS chemicals that accumulate in fish, which have only been identified as a health threat in recent years.
A study published today, Monday, reveals that some of the herring caught in the Archipelago Sea and the Red Sea in 2022–2023 exceeded the limit values of EU food legislation for PFAS substances.
The concentrations of herring have clearly increased since 2015, which, according to the researchers, requires further measures.
In other fish species, except for shell, the study did not show a similar increase. In other species, in sea and lake areas and in fish products, the pfas concentrations are clearly below the maximum amounts.
Pfas compounds so-called eternity chemicals. Such are called poisons that remain in the environment and in humans for tens of years.
The health effects primarily affect fetal development and the development of young children. Excessive exposure has been found to affect a person’s immune defenses and the effectiveness of vaccinations.
In addition, PFAS chemicals can cause, among other things, an increase in cholesterol levels, thyroid diseases, liver damage and cancer.
Widely In the EU fish IV project, the concentrations of nutrients and foreign substances accumulating in fish were studied in domestic fish and fish products.
The final result of the risk-benefit assessment was that the health benefits of eating fish are much, up to 75 times greater than the harms. The health benefits outweighed the harms associated with the intake of foreign substances in all age groups.
Health benefits include a reduction in total mortality and the risk of certain cancers when the intake of beneficial substances contained in fish increases. Fish contains healthy fatty acids, D vitamins, minerals and proteins, which are also useful for children’s growth and development.
According to the study, the amount of foreign substances in Finnish fish is mostly below the EU limit values. For example, the concentrations of previously problematic dioxins have fallen across the board to near or below the maximum levels.
As an exception are pfas compounds.
“The Archipelago and Back Sea herring clearly stand out from the crowd. It was also surprising that the Pfas concentrations were clearly lower in the Gulf of Finland,” says the research manager Panu Rantakokko From the Institute of Health and Welfare (THL).
Pfo (perfluorooctanoic acid) and pfna (perfluorononanoic acid), which are part of the pfas chemicals, had increased particularly strongly, the restrictions on their use in the EU only came into force a few years ago.
The pfoa used in the production of non-stick coatings is one of the worst pfas chemicals. It has polluted surface and ground water in the vicinity of factories producing Teflon. Its production and use are currently restricted worldwide.
Follow-up are already underway according to Rantakoko.
THL and the Norwegian Natural Resources Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry have started a study that will continue to monitor concentration trends and at the same time try to find out the reasons why herring differs from other fish species.
Rantakokko points out that pfas concentrations in fish are highly dependent on the tissue.
“For example, the concentrations in the meat of farmed rainbow trout for sale are very low,” he states.
Thus, for example, rainbow trout are fed, among other things, Baltic Sea feed, which is made from herring.
Fish dietary recommendations is intended to be specified based on new results, says the research professor Johanna Finland From the Food Agency.
In the future, PFAs compounds will also be taken into account in the recommendations, while currently there are only restrictions on mercury and dioxins for risk groups.
“Recommendations, mainly dose amounts, are being specified for infants in order to minimize fetal and breastfeeding exposure as well as infant exposure. At the same time, the benefits of eating fish are taken into account,” Suomi says.
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“Pfas does not make herring an immediate poison.”
Finland, which led the EU fish project, stresses that the PFAS compounds in herring are above all a legislative problem. In terms of consumer health, dioxins are more problematic.
“Pfas does not make herring an immediate poison, and neither do dioxins,” Suomi says.
“In any case, the health benefits of fish are greater than the harms.”
Herring is the most important catch species of professional fishing in Finland. However, its use as a food fish has decreased dramatically in recent decades. Most of the herring catch ends up as feed for fur animals and rainbow trout.
Fact
Persistent and widespread environmental toxins
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Pfas chemicals, i.e. poly- and perfluorinated alkyl compounds, are compounds widely used in industry and, among other things, in cosmetics, waterproof and windproof clothing, frying pans, fire retardants and ski creams.
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They are popular because they repel water, dirt and grease and are very durable. As a result of their widespread use, they have accumulated worldwide in all environments and organisms.
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Due to health risks, the European Commission set limits for the maximum pfas concentrations in food at the beginning of 2023. Limit values were defined for meat, fish and crustaceans and eggs.
Man exposed to PFAS chemicals primarily through food and drinking water. In Finland, chemicals reach people most often from fish. High concentrations have been measured in the blood of fishermen.
In the fall of 2023, HS investigated the pfas concentrations in the blood of fishermen who eat a lot of fish caught from Helsinki’s Old Town Bay. They turned out to be exceptionally high. Read the story here With toxic apaki.
Since then, Helsinki has studied harmful substances in fish. The fish in the Old Bay were found to have such high concentrations of PFAS chemicals that the city placed the fish food restriction.
The North Karelia welfare area Siunsote has been defined use restrictions for several lakes due to high mercury levels in fish.
EU fish IVIn the project, the concentrations of dioxins and pcb compounds, pfas compounds, brominated diphenyl ethers, mercury and inorganic arsenic were measured in fish and fish products.
Excessive intake of the studied foreign substances can lead to various health problems, such as reduced intelligence or fertility. In addition, the concentrations of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids were measured.
The study was carried out by the Food Agency, THL, Natural Resources Center and the Finnish Environment Agency.
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