NYT Source Bites Back, Slams Chile's Salmon Industry

New York-based microbiologist Dr. Felipe Cabello this week offered a staunch defense of opinions he expressed earlier this year in the New York Times (NYT), which cited the scientist as saying salmon farms in Chile use excessive quantities of antibiotics.

In a letter addressed to Chilean Congressman Pablo Galilea Carrillo, president of the Chamber of Deputies’ Fishing and Aquaculture Committee, Cabello repeated the accusation, this time offering damming evidence to back up his claim. Referencing a Universidad Austral de Chile study entitled “Diagnóstico del uso de fármacos y otros productos químicos en la acuicultura,” the New York Medical College professor noted that in 2003, salmon farmers here used 134,163 kilograms of antibiotics to produce 280,481 tons of salmon, an average of 478 grams per kilogram of fish. That same year in Norway – the world’s leading salmon producer – farmers used just 1.5 grams of antibiotics per kilogram of salmon. Chilean salmon producers, in other words, used a staggering 318 times more antibiotics than their Norwegian counterparts.

“The difference might be even greater, since according to the authors of the aforementioned study, responses to their surveys on antibiotic use were incomplete,” wrote Cabello. “I believe this analysis shows that what I said in the New York Times is based on solid information that was scientifically gathered and documented.”

The letter marked the first time Cabello has spoken out on the issue since the controversial NYT story first went to print. Entitled “Salmon Virus Indicts Chile’s Fishing Methods,” the March 27 article highlighted the industry’s current struggles with Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) and raised serious questions about Chilean aquaculture practices. ISA is a highly contagious virus that can be lethal to fish but does not affect humans.

The scathing story put Chilean salmon producers and government representatives squarely on the defensive, especially when just days after publication the U.S. supermarket chain Safeway announced it would reduce purchases of Chilean raised salmon (PT, April 1). SalmonChile, the country’s private producers association, characterized the article as an “attack” and even threatened to sue Cabello.

”We lament the fact that foreign media try to weaken Chile’s third most important export industry, an industry that employs more than 50,000 people and that has played a key role in our national growth,” said SalmonChile head César Barros.

Read the full article in the Patagonia Times.