EU BAN LOOMS FOR OUR FARMED SALMON

SALMON farmers could be banned from exporting their fish after feeding an illegal chemical to stocks.

The European Commission has said that if its inspectors continue to detect the carcinogenic substance in British salmon, it will take drastic action.

The threat comes after Government officials found that three per cent of farmed salmon contained residues of malachite green. The highly toxic chemical is used to protect salmon from fungal infections, but has been banned in Britain since June because it is both mutagenic and carcinogenic.

The Government says any residues found since June are not a breach of the law but are caused by salmon swimming in water which was polluted before the ban. However, both the EC and environmental groups argue that no residues should be found because the Government has been aware of the threat to health for up to a decade and was frequently warned that it was not authorised for use in Europe.

The British ban was only introduced after EC officials visited in April, and discovered malachite green in 20 per cent of farmed salmon.

Yesterday, the European Commission said Britain had "no time left" to sort out the problem.

If malachite green continued to be found in use, it would start infringement proceedings against Britain similar to those launched against the French when they refused to sell British beef.

A spokeswoman for David Byrne, the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, said they were tired of Britain failing to enforce the rules.

"Britain has no time left to sort this out," the spokeswoman said. "This substance should not have been around in the first place. If it continues to be used we will be forced to ban the export of salmon and start proceedings to fine Britain."

Environmental campaigners are furious that the Government allowed the health of consumers to be at risk. The US government banned malachite green in 1991 and the Department of Health is well aware of its dangers. But the cost of the chemical is 20 times less than other antifungal treatments, making it popular with many fish farmers.

Don Staniford, head of the Salmon Farm Protest Group (http://www.salmonfarmmonitor.org), believes consumers should avoid salmon products: "Shoppers should steer clear of cheap and nasty farmed salmon this Christmas," he said.

"With it contaminated with malachite green and a cocktail of other cancer-causing chemicals, consumers would get more than they bargained for."

Last night, the Food Standards Agency washed its hands of the issue.

However, the FSA has been concerned about the problem. An FSA statement in June read: Although we welcome the steps that have been taken we remain convinced this issue would have been sorted out much earlier if surveys had been carried out at a retail level and information provided so that consumers could see which products were likely to contain residues."

Last night, Defra said that the residue of malachite green could be found in water up to five years after it had stopped being used: "Since the ban in June, we have had four samples out of 119 salmon samples test positive. This does not mean the farmers were using it as it could be in the water from before the ban. We will prosecute anyone found breaking the law."

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