Experiment Station Analyzes Gulf Seafood For Oil
The FDA Will Interpret The Results And Assess Health Risks
Chemists at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station are helping federal agencies figure out if seafood from the Gulf of Mexico has been contaminated with oil. WNPR’s Nancy Cohen reports.
The experiment station is one of three labs in the country that will be analyzing oysters, shrimp, crabs and finfish from the oil spill area. Director Louis Magnarelli says the Experiment Station chemists will be looking for chemicals associated with petroleum, known as the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
“You have to have the knowledge to be able to figure out how to analyze for a particular chemical, but you also have to have very sensitive and specific equipment to be able to do that and our laboratory has both the expertise and the equipment.”
Magnarelli says the chemists are working on a fast-paced schedule to analyze the seafood. The results will be sent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. That agency will interpret the results and assess whether the seafood is safe to eat.
For WNPR, I’m Nancy Cohen.
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You have to have the knowledge to be able to figure out how
to analyze for a particular chemical, but you also have to have very
sensitive and specific equipment to be able to do that and our
laboratory has both the expertise and the equipment,
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