BBC Dr Who’s arch enemies the Daleks have a history that is similar to the one humans are creating for themselves (ourselves).
The Daleks were the result of a long toxic war amongst a race called the kaleds. Just like humans it was a toxic, poisonous, environment and health destroying war on both themselves and their planet.
A Kaled scientist named Davros cleverly predicted that the Kaled race would end up as useless, imobile squidlike mutants and created a time travelling fully armed, armour plated walnut whip shaped spotty mobilty scooter that they could live and travel about inside.
Having learnt little from this BBC fable-ish parable humans are busily trashing the planet and the sea and creating , not quite as extreme but similar problems for earthlings. We get more sickly and more infertile as each new atmosphere, rain forest and ocean destroying day goes past.
Misscarriage during pregnancy is becoming more and more common
Doctor Whos and Scientists have suggested we will end up as a race of morons if we don’t rectify our intake of essential fatty acids , in particular omega 3 DHA. Some claim that like the Daleks we risk ‘devolution’ not evolution.
Certainly there’s no doubt humans are as arrogant and conceited as Daleks believing we are the supreme beings in the universe.
Will we survive?
Fortunately for those wanting to join Dr Who on a different path there is a non toxic, sustainable, healthy solution to our predicament of destiny. V Pure is pure algal omega 3 DHA EPA essential fatty acids approved by the vegetarian society and registered with the vegan society and as it is sustainably farmed it is one of the purest value for money forms of EPA and DHA that ethical concious consumers can buy.
Of course it’s going to take more than a few algae Omega 3 capsules to save the planet but it’s not a bad place to start.
What to look for when you are searching for pure unadulterated quality, uncontaminated purity free of toxins and good value for money in therapeutic strength long chain omega 3 essential fatty acids DHA and EPA
V Pure Omega 3 DHA / EPA from sustainably farmed algae so Vegetarian / Vegan , toxin free and good value for money.
So how do you choose from the vast array of omega 3 essential fatty acid supplements on the market.
Here are some V Pure key factors to look out for when choosing an omega 3 product
Toxins, Toxity, Poisons, Contamination
A few years ago a numberof retailers including Boots the chemist had to withdraw Cod Liver Oil Fish Oil products because they had levels of toxins ubiquitously found in the sea that were above the safety levels set by the UK Government.
Humans treat the oceans like a giant sewer, a giant global cesspit for all humanity
The trouble is with contamination, like BSE, if you don’t look for it you won’t find it and it’s quite unusual for products like this to be officially tested.
The other problem is that even though low levels of toxins in fish oil may pass the regulatory limits, and not be dangerous on their own, no -one seems to have considered what cumulative amounts of different toxins, added together in a cocktail of poisons, can have on the body. What effects do combinations of these different toxins have on our risk of cancer for instance.
Some known toxins are not even officially tested for despite prolific traces found in fish through independent testing.
The best strategy to avoid risk is to avoid all fish oil products and only choose products that have pure EPA and DHA in them that’s been purified. Cod liver oil in particular is from the liver of the fish and is the oil filter that protects the fish so why would you consume the part of the fish that is likely to have the most amounts of toxins. This may have made sense for your grandmother but the seas are now so poluted it’s a risk factor you can live without.
Algal oil is farmed in a controlled environment that avoids contamination from the sea and is then filtered to seperate the key EPA and DHA parts of the omega 3 oil that are so beneficial for optimal health.
Sustainability, conservation and protecting the environment
Environmental scientists and researchers now predict that if urgent steps are not taken immediately to halt the rape of our seas and oceans it will now beonly a few years before there are no fish left in the ocean. This doesn’t just have aesthetic and ethical implications, the fact that we’ve robbed our children of a rich biological heritage.
In the film ‘Sea The Truth’ by the Sea First Foundation, Dos Winkel and eminent marine biologists reveal that fish have a vital part to play in maintaining the delicate balance of not just the life in the oceans but the whole planet.
The oceans, covering two thirds of the planet play an even more important role in cleaning our atmosphere than that of our dwindling rainforests. The algae and plankton that live on the surface of the sea are the true lungs of our planet and we are killing it. New toxic strains of algae are growing out of control as nature uses up organophosphates and nitrogen washed into the sea. Meanwhile the benefitial algaes and plancton are following the fate of the coral reefs, dying from over acidification of our sea.
Fish play a vital role in balancing alkaline pH levels as they help neutralise the acid. No fish = more acid= less plankton = more C02 = less oxygen and a grave danger to life on planet Earth.
Not only do we waste fish for human consumption through bycatch , we devastate fish stocks by catching them to feed to chickens, pigs, cows, even other fish. We also scoop up millions of tonnes of fish each year to squeeze out the oil to be used by cosmetic, industrial and pharmaceutical industries.
We need to stop immediately before it’s too late.
Value for money, best buy, cost effective alternatives to fish
As fish become more scarce and smaller fishing fleets and trawlers have to travel further away to find less fish. as fish become more toxic expensive decontamination and purification methods need to be deployed in an attempt to try to keep fish oil below the government’s maximum levels of permitted toxins.
Beware products selling you omega 3 supplements labelled Omega 3, 6 and 9, this is a waste of money. They are usually cheap blended vegetable oils – omega 9 from olive oil, omega 6 from sunflower oil and omega 3 from flax and or rapeseed oil. This is a rediculously expensive way of buying these oils and typically it’s only the omega 3 bit we need more of. If you need more omega 6 then choose GLA rich safflower, evening primrose or echium oil. Omega 9 is not an essential fat and most people get plenty from olive oil. Hempseeds have a good mix of omega 6, omega 9 and basic short chain omega 3 and are considerably cheaper than a supplement!
The other thing to consider is that fish oil contains saturated animal fat as well as Omega 3 essential fats. Nutrition London expert Yvonne Bishop-Weston says “I’ve yet to meet anyone who needs extra saturated animal fat in their diet. It’s essential fats that most people need more of to obtain personal optimised health not more saturated fish oil fats. Omega 3 DHA EPA are only a small part of the fat mix in fish. Fish have a far better ratio of omega 3 than factory farmed meat but they are still a rich source of saturated fat too.”
Here are some typical fish oil and long chain Omega 3 essential fat products.
Holland and Barrett Fish oil up to 264mg DHA per Dose
Seven Sea Cod Liver Oil 85mg per dose
Seven Seas Extra Strong Cod Liver Oil 360 mg DHA per dose
Natures Aid 120 mg DHA per dose
Lamberts Pure Fish Oil 240mg DHA per dose
Higher Nature Omega 3 120mg DHA per dose
Health Aid Omega 3 325mg DHA per dose
Haliborange kids Omega 3 200mg DHA per dose
Eye Q 174 mg DHA per dose (6 capsules)
Boots Omega 3 Fish Oil 120mg DHA per dose
Boots Cod Liver Oil 100mg DHA per dose
V Pure Omega 3 Vegetarian / Vegan DHA / EPA from Algae 400mg DHA per dose
As you can see based on quality, v pure omega 3 DHA represents excellent value for money.
The first “big picture” study of the effects of rapidly rising temperatures in the northeast Atlantic Ocean shows that a major shift in fish stocks is already well underway. The study, led by Dr Steve Simpson of the University of Bristol in collaboration with researchers from eight other institutions, analysed 28 years of fisheries agency data from 11 independent surveys covering more than a million square kilometres of the European continental shelf. The data show that fish in European waters have undergone profound community-level changes that are related to dramatic warming trends for the region. 72% of common fish species have already shown a change in abundance that relates to the rising sea temperatures.
There have been a number of TV shows and films revealing the plight of the sea recently. The film The End of the Line, and more recently Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s channel 4 TV Fish Fight have gone a long way to educating us about the plight of the sea.However if you watch ‘Sea The Truth’ the movie (available free to view online) you’ll see that the issues uncovered by Hugh and the End of the Line’s naked Greta Satchi are quite literally the tip of the melting Ice berg.
Devastation Under The Sea
Sea The Truth is a film instigated by Dutch diver and underwater macro photographer Dos Winkel who founded The Sea First Foundation. He was horrified to watch over the last 20 as the underwater ocean habitat had been quickly decimated. As he looked for the reasons behind the devastation he became more and more angry that governments were sitting back and intentionally allowing this to happen.
Extinction Looms
Dos Winkel also discovered that the loss of biodiversity under the sea was not only devastating for marine biology, social, health, environmental and economic reasons but that the survival of the human race depends on the health of the sea.
It seems one of the many bio-chemical functions of the fish in their synergistic place in the natural world’s delicate balance of things is to regulate the acidity of the sea. It’s now thought that no fish = no balance = no plankton= no planetary lungs = the whole world slowly suffocates.
Report by The UN
The findings of a new environmental report by the UN was revealed to journalists in New York recently. Pavan Sukhdev, head of the UN Environment Program’s green economy initiative, told journalists “If the various estimates we have received come true, then we are in the situation where 40 years down the line we, effectively, are out of fish!”
UNEP’s warning is that tuna only symbolizes a much vaster catastrophe, threatening economic, as well as environmental upheaval. The report, assesses how surging global demand in other key areas including energy and fresh water can be met while preventing ecological destruction around the planet.
Perverse Subsidies for the Fishing Industry
The annual 27 billion dollars in government subsidies to fishing, mostly in rich countries, is “perverse,” Sukhdev said, since the entire value of fish caught is only 85 billion dollars.
According to the UN, 30 percent of fish stocks have already collapsed, meaning they yield less than 10 percent of their former potential, while virtually all fisheries risk running out of commercially viable catches by 2050.
Save the World by Saving Fish
Dos Winkel’s solution is a fairly simple one. He says we have no sensible choice but to put a complete and immediate stop to commercial fishing. We have to stop eating fish, and animals that are fed fishmeal and using fish oil. As he toured around the world lecturing and exhibiting his photographs he found many people that couldn’t contemplate life without fish on their plates. Dos’s solution was to commission a cookbook, a fish-free taste of the ocean recipe book called ‘Fish-a-Licious’, originally published in Dutch and is now being translated into a number of languages.
Healthy, Delicious Fish Alternatives
In the Sea First Foundation’s cookbook it’s mainly clever plantarian cooking and an ingenious use of seaweed that’s behind the delicious, ‘taste of the sea’ recipes. However just like meat fish have their vegetable pirate copies and veggie burger and veggie sausage equivalents too. Chinese and Korean restaurant suppliers sell a range of faux prawns, fish-steaks, tuna and crab-sticks made from soya and vegetable protein. These days you can find vegetarian fish free fish-fingers even in the supermarkets. A Danish company even makes some very realistic black caviar made from seaweed, so good it even fooled a top celebrity chef .
Save The Seas with Omega 3s ?
Despite medical claims that we need to eat fish for adequate supplies of the long chain essential omega 3 fats EPA and DHA even this nutrient is now available from farmed natural algae.
Launched in 2006 V- Pure the world’s first vegetarian / vegan omega 3 EPA DHA supplement, provides a fish free, sustainable, toxin free omega 3 long chain fatty acid for consumers who avoid fish for ethical, religious, allergy, environmental, health and common sense reasons.
No need for fish says nutritionist
Leading London NutritionistYvonne Bishop-Weston says “For people who we’ve tested that have low levels of omega 3 DHA and EPA, algal oil is a great alternative to fish as one not only avoids the risk of pollutants and toxins such as mercury and traces of PCBs, but also avoids the saturated fat that comes free with the non vegetarian form of DHA omega 3 fat in fish.”
” There’s really no need to eat fish from a nutritional point of view and there are some compelling arguments for not eating fish”
“There’s no question that essential fats, especially omega 3 are vital for optimal health and that for many people the basic omega 3 found in flaxseeds just isn’t enough. However algae provides an affordable and sustainable alternative to fish oils that can no longer be overlooked”
“If you haven’t already done so please watch the film ‘Sea TheTruth’ it’s an eye opener!” She says
Fish oil supplements, a natural source of Omega-3s, continue to grow in popularity. The amount of fish being commercially farmed has tripled globally over the last decade due in part to the popularity of fish oil for use as a source for Omega-3 supplements. Omega-3 supplements are taken for a range of reasons, from protecting the cardiovascular system to alleviating ADHD symptoms.
In the production of fish oil supplements many of the farmed breeds, such as salmon, need to be fed fish that also have high levels of Omega-3 in order to maximise growth and quality. The fish that are used as feed are taken from wild stocks.
A recent scientific study led by Professor Rosamond Naylor, director of the Program on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University, reports that aquaculture’s demand for fish feed is endangering these wild stocks.
Professor Naylor said:
As long as we are a health-conscious population, trying to get our most healthy oils from fish, we are going to be demanding more of aquaculture.
Not all breeds of fish need to be fed on wild caught fish. There are herbivorous species, such as tilapia, carp and trout, that would give consumers an ethical choice for Omega-3 supplements.
According to John Harman, of the UK seafood industry group Seafish:
There have been moves towards using vegetable replacements, but often these do not contain the desired long-chain omega-3 acids. There is a debate to be had about the quality of fish raised on these feeds.
The aquaculture industry appears to agree and fish farms rearing these varieties continue to use fishmeal and oil to increase growth and final yields. In 2007 12 million tonnes of fishmeal was used in carp and tilapia farming, compared to the 8 million tonnes used by salmon and shrimp farming combined.
Despite this trend, there is still an ethical option for Omega-3 supplements, an option that is also suitable for vegetarians and vegans who have been attempting to supplement their Omega-3 levels by taking flax seed oil.
V-Pure produces an ethical, vegan Omega-3 supplement from algae. Algae are the simpler, older cousins of land plants. The word “algae” comes from the Latin word for seaweed and seaweeds are, in fact, the largest and most complex forms of algae.
Algae are the original source in the food chain for Omega-3 fatty acids. Algae produce Omega-3s through the photosynthesis of sunlight and are fed on by tiny crustaceans such as krill, which are in turn eaten by small fish, which are eaten by larger fish and so on up the food chain until it reaches us.
V-Pure starts at the source – growing and harvesting algae in organically controlled conditions away from the sea so it does not interfere with the marine eco-system and has no impact on fish stocks or their food sources.
The resulting Omega-3 oils are rich in EPA and DHA and free from the toxins that oil-bearing fish can accumulate, such as mercury, dioxins and PCBs. This means V-Pure is naturally safe for pregnant women and children.
People who have been unable to take Omega-3 supplements because they are allergic to fish oil are generally allergic to the fish proteins that inevitably get included in Omega-3 oils sourced from fish. V-Pure Omega-3 oil is free from all animal produce, derivatives or by-products, and is also free from wheat, dairy and sugar. Even the capsule that holds V-Pure Omega-3 oil is vegetarian and contains no gelatine.
When it comes to our health we can’t escape the importance, and difficulty, of making the right choice about what we put into our bodies and the impact our choices will have on our bodies and the environment. Sustainable, environmentally friendly Omega-3 oil free of toxins and contaminants is one of the easier choices to make.
The expanse of the sea appears vast and clouds of fish swarm in its waters, yet these appearances hide a startling and dangerous reality. Since the 1980s, fishermen and scientists have noticed that the bounty of the sea is providing them with smaller catches each fishing season.
Previously, the yearly hauls had always risen because of advances in technology and the expansion of the fishing industry. No one was quite sure what was happening. A new film currently showing in the UK presents the answers, and the findings are alarming. However, the hard-hitting documentary also provides light at the end of the tunnel.
End of the Line reveals the devastating impact of unsustainable overfishing, and the consequences the world faces if we do not change our ways. The documentary was described at the Sundance film festival as the “Inconvenient Truth” of our seas. Journalist Charles Clover accompanied by prominent marine scientists investigates an industry that is removing wild fish from the sea at rates that will completely deplete stocks in less than 40 years. By 2050, if no effective action is taken all fish species could be commercially-extinct.
Based on Clover’s book of the same name, the film opened in the UK on World Oceans Day, and may have as much impact as Al Gore’s popular and revealing documentary.
Over the last few decades, supermarkets moved from one fish to another as species were fished out by predatory companies looking to maximize their profits. Good fishing practices recommended by marine experts were routinely ignored. Governments stood by idly, not wanting to upset the status quo.
Shots from the film show massive fishing ships hauling in their catches in nets loaded with fish, huge tuna hang by their tails, and graphs show just how fast the curve is moving toward exhaustion of current fish populations.
A possible sign of the woes that await us comes from the failure of the Newfoundland cod industry in the early 1990s. Newfoundland was once the largest cod fishery in the world. In 1992, more than 40,000 people lost their jobs, and the local communities still have not completely recovered. In 2003, the government announced the outright closure of the cod fishery in Newfoundland, the Maritime Provinces and Quebec.
The Atlantic cod fishery has still not recovered. By removing excessive numbers of adult cod, the natural balance in the ecosystem is disturbed endangering the entire cod population.
“Individuals need to choose sustainable seafood”, Clover said in an interview with The Times. “Consumers have eventually come around to the benefits of organic food, for their health. For the health of their children – if they want them to eat fish – they should be similarly selective over how they choose fish.”
We see a similar pattern that led to collapse of the Atlantic cod now threatening the endangered Mediterranean bluefin tuna that is served by Robert de Niro-owned Nobu restaurant chain. In the film, Clover exposes Nobu’s practice motivating a group of celebrities including Stephen Fry, Elle Macpherson, Alicia Silverstone, Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson to protest the inclusion of bluefin tuna on Nobu’s menu.
Nobu refused to take bluefin tuna out of its restaurants, but has added a footnote to its website and menus: ‘Bluefin tuna is an environmentally threatened species, please ask your server for an alternative.’
According to conservationists, at current fishing rates that bluefin tuna breeding stocks could die out in just three years. Nobu has said that it would explore the use of farmed bluefin tuna from Australia as an alternative to wild fish poulations.
“End of the Line” though does offer hope for the future. Clover notes that many fishing companies are obtaining certification though groups like the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) that allows consumers to identify sustainably-caught fish. Fisheries voluntarily pay MSC to inspect their companies and, if they should pass muster, they are awarded the MSC seal of approval. The MSC label is found both at supermarkets and restaurants. The group also has a directory that lists all MSC-certified shops and eateries throughout the world.
The MSC assures that fishing activity is maintained at a level that will sustain the fish population for a given species, that companies minimize environmental impact, and that they comply immediately with all local, national and international laws. The organization makes a detailed assessment of each fishery against a set of 31 performance criteria. Certification lasts for five years after which it must be re-tested.
In order to make sure fish are not mislabeled, MSC has instituted an advanced traceability standard that requires complete chain of custody certification. Every link from the fishing boat to the dinner plate is checked and certified to assure trust in the MSC eco-label. The idea is to prevent non-sustainably-caught or illegally-caught fish are not mixed together with certified-caught fish somewhere in the chain of custody – the transit points through which the fish move into the marketplace. In each case, the certification lasts for three years before a new review is required.
Clover likens progress in sustainable fishing to the changes in attitude over the last 15 years toward farming practices. “There was a time when you couldn’t get a story about organic farming in Farmers Weekly. Now you can’t stop them writing about it,” he told The Times.
MSC has enjoyed a yearly 50 per cent increase in fishing companies that display its label, and approximately 20 per cent of the world’s wild catch are MSC-approved fish. In 2007-2008, products with the MSC label doubled. Supermarkets are cooperating, and Waitrose has been ahead of the game championing sustainable seafood for the last 12 years. Wal-Mart and its outlet ASDA have also gotten into the game.
Wal-Mart, which presently sells about 20 million lbs of fresh fish yearly, is targeting 2011 as the year it will offer only fish that are sustainable-certified fresh and frozen fish.
Most supermarket chains are following the example of Waitrose and Wal-Mart. In Japan, the number of MSC-labeled products shot up by 614 per cent in 2007-2008.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) believes that aquaculture may offer a solution to wild fishing practices, but not everybody agrees. The WWF plans to co-found the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, which will be modeled after MSC but focused on farming fish rather than catching them in the wild.
“This is an unprecedented effort to ensure that future aquaculture is environmentally sustainable, and also well positioned to meet the growing demand for seafood worldwide,” said WWF-International Director General James Leape in January.
“These new standards will raise the bar in the industry, giving consumers assurance that their food purchases are helping to protect the environment.”
Opponents claim that practices like shrimp and salmon farming hurt local and indigenous communities, and are not sustainable or environmentally-sound. They also claim that the WWF has been influenced by “the vested interests of the aquaculture industry.”
What is clear is that action must be taken quickly. More than 2.6 billion people in developing countries get more than 20 per cent of the animal protein from fish. A significant percentage of this comes from wild marine sources. A quarter of ocean fisheries are now classified as overfished or depleted. However this need not be the case; with natural alternatives such as algae based omega 3, along with the efforts outlined by Wal-Mart, Waitrose and the efforts of other organisations mentioned, consumers have a choice as to whether to continue funding this unsustainable approach to fish farming.
The marine biologists appearing in “End of the Line” though were not pessimistic. They did see hope for solving this problem before it’s too late. In order to restore past productivity — possibly 20 times today’s catch — fishing must be banned from some areas altogether.
“End of the Line” promises to be one of the rare films that goes beyond simple entertainment and education. By telling this compelling story with vivid imagery and in a way that penetrates and is easy to understand, Clover and his film crew spur people into action that may help to save the world’s marine fish populations.
