Catfish Trade Controversy Challenges Environmental and Health Protection

Catfish anyone? It may not be your preferred fish fry, but it’s at the center of a dispute that illustrates a number of issues that impact every one of us.

Catfish farming is a major industry in the Southeast. Recently, farmers have complained to government officials about low cost imports coming in from Asia that were driving prices down. So they asked for increased regulation.

Congress listened and moved the regulatory authority for catfish from the  FDA to the Dept. of Agriculture, which is generally known for more rigorous regulation. The process has taken years to work its way through the bureaucracy, but now that it’s done, it's starting to look like a case of “be careful what you wish for.”

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Image credit: Sheri Fresonke Harper: Flickr Creative Commons

RP Siegel, author and inventor, shines a powerful light on numerous environmental and technological topics. He has been published in business and technical journals and has written three books. His third, co-authored with Roger Saillant, is Vapor Trails, an eco-thriller that is being adapted for the big screen. RP is a professional engineer – and a prolific inventor, with 50 patents, numerous awards, and several commercial products. He is president of Rain Mountain LLC and is an active environmental advocate in his hometown of Rochester, N.Y. In addition to Justmeans, he writes for Triple Pundit, ThomasNet News, and Energy Viewpoints, occasionally contributing to Mechanical Engineering, Strategy + Business, and Huffington Post.