The good thing is Environmental Defense never lets facts get in the way of a good blog posting... or in this case an erroneous, misleading one.
Today's sustainablog is riddled with errors including this one; "barely one-quarter of U.S. fisheries are known to be sustainably fished."
Reports are percolating today about an EPA study that found fish caught near wastewater treatment plants had residues of pharmaceuticals in them, including medicines used to treat high cholesterol, allergies, high blood pressure, bipolar disorder and depression.
You may have come across this recent article on something called Examiner.com, it's a series of websites where people who "consider [themselves] an insider with insights and knowledge to share" write articles for the site with minimal editorial oversight. That's how this 450 word advertisement for Safe Harbor Seafood made its way to the web.
It is often claimed that Albert Einstein said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." It's also claimed he said "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." It would appear Greenepeace's persistent illusion of progress has become its own artificial reality.
A Newsweek blogger has taken exception with my math on a recent challenge we issued to KPIX TV. And you know what? She was right. I botched my conversion of micrograms per deciliter vs. micrograms per liter, a mistake that I readily admit and have corrected wherever it could be found earlier.
From a butcher you ask for meat. From a fishmonger you ask for seafood. From a reporter you ask for facts... is that too much to ask? Our latest letter:
March 12, 2009
Dan Rosenheim
News Director
KPIX-TV5
855 Battery St
San Francisco, CA 94111
VIA Email
Dear Mr. Rosenheim,
Yesterday a California appeals court ruled that the mercury found in canned tuna doesn't reach the standard for concern as defined by proposition 65 and therefore there is no need for warning signs on the product-as the Attorney General's offices had argued (Note here: argued twice-this is the second time that courts have shot down the state's argument.)
The folks at KPIX have yet to respond to my missive from last week. So, I sent them another email just to make sure there isn't a technical problem that I don't know about. A technical snafu would be easier explained than management of a local TV station that happens to be owned and operated by the CBS network ignoring a viewer's concerns about its reporting.
Still waiting.
March 10, 2009
Dan Rosenheim
News Director
KPIX-TV5
855 Battery St
San Francisco, CA 94111
Last week KTLA-TV produced a report on mercury in seafood that did include statements from NFI but still missed the mark on a number of journalistic issues, including the title which was rife with exaggeration; "Fish and Mercury: Recipe for Disaster"- Yum, I'd like an extra helping of hyperbole with my headline, please.
The Associated Press' Nairobi, Kenya Bureau Chief has gotten back to us regarding the problems we highlighted in its reporting on the U.N.'s gathering of environmental ministers in Kenya.
