A thoughtful article by George Monbiot in today's Guardian is worthy of comment, here or appended to that article. David Marsh has already given a long reply on those pages, countering many negative responses. Please remember to mention www.mccarrisonsociety.org.uk !

From: The Lancet press office, Friday 16 February 2007

(Joseph Hibbeln, the current holder of the McCarrison Society's Cleave Award, presented his paper at the Society's Generating Healthy Brains conference in January 2006) 

Higher maternal seafood consumption during pregnancy results in children showing better neurological function than children whose mothers eat low amounts or no seafood during pregnancy, according to an Article published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

Seafood is the predominant source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for optimum fetal brain development. However, in the USA, women are advised to limit their seafood intake during pregnancy to 340 g per week, to avoid fetal exposure to trace contaminants of neurotoxins*. {}

The UK's DEFRA (Dept of Food and Rural Affairs) has asked for urgent responses to their vision for marine fisheries in England for the next 20 years, and the Consumers' Food Group are coordinating these responses. The McCarrison Society has strong views about the benefits of a marine based diet, both in our evolution as a species  and in its prospects for the future, and our discussions  are  here in the form of a "blog" for your further comment and in the form of a WIKI here. Please register if you have not already done so and be logged in, in order to add your comments.

These links are reproduced from the website of  Seafood Services Australia, a not for profit company supported by the Australian seafood industry and the Australian Government through funding from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.

Martin Bowerman interviews Professor Michael Crawford, PhD CBiol, FIBiol, FRCPath, founder and Director of The Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition, London, and Chair of the McCarrison Sociey.

Eating More Seafood for Good Health (6:19)

Seafood, Human Evolution and Health (5:14)

Seafood, Pregnancy and Early Childhood (4:32)

Seafood and Mercury: The Myths (4:52)

The Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition, London (0:49)

All rights reserved.

from Simon House:
Michael's comments on estuarial life prompt the thought that, as with human beings, the marine food-chain problem is a preconceptional one. A lifecycle view is essential, focusing on the most delicate phase, fertilization and reproduction.

Simon -  Absolutely brilliant
Of course

Marine life is preconceptional because all life sprang from it.

Right  from the beginning 3 billion years ago the primordial soup possessed the chemicals (call them nutrients if you like)  necessary for life to come into being. Then 600 million years ago the efforts of the previous 2.4 billion years laid the preconceptional grounds for the birth of multicellular life at the so -called Cambrian explosion when all 32 phyla we know to day enter the fossil record.

Then 100 million years ago or so, the collapse of the giant ginkos, ferns and their allies, led to the evolution of the gentler flowering plants with protected seeds containing concentrated packets of omega 6 fatty acids (linoleic mainly) needed to develop the vascular invasion and cell adhesion network that embedded the embryo to stick to the uterine wall instead of being laid as a clutch of shelled eggs. That focussed the nutrient supply on one instead of many offspring. It led to the placenta from which event mammal evolution took off.

Moreover, it filled the missing biochemical gap needed for brain evolution namely a balance of between 1 to 1 and 2 to 1 of omega 6 to omega 3 for cerebral expansion which up to that time there is no record
of any significant advancement of brain capacity. Then finally, the return of a primate to the waters edge to get the best of both worlds was the preconceptional stimulus for cerebral enhancement and ultimately H. sapiens.

That of course is backed by the previous return of land mammals to the sea which are now the dolphins and whales with massive brains and migrating huge distances to get their omega 6 fatty acids but at the same time benefiting from the wealth of DHA omega 3 and its allies which is difficult to obtain on land.

IT IS ALL PRECONCEPTION!

from Trevor Bennett:
Michael and Simon - sparking off each other wonderfully. If either/ any of the recipients can get this into a few sentences that DEFRA will understand it would be even better. Meanwhile I will put all on our website and you can point people to the full discussion - a link from foodaware.org.uk would be nice! {}

My simplistic quick response is that the fishing industry is about catching as much of the tasty (or tasteless for fussy kids) fish as possible, rather than as you say, stewarding the life cycles of all marine life, or looking at the unfashionable little flora and fauna from which the marine mammals get their omega 3s.

From Michael Crawford
Wow Trevor
"stewarding the life cycles of all marine life"

Another brilliant quote.

Well done stick all on the website. Yes DEFRA should listen but is unlikely to unless pressure comes from
outside so go to it  Food Aware!