Obama administration urges armed forces, public school children to eat as much Gulf seafood as possible

Thursday, December 09, 2010 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: Gulf seafood, armed forces, health news

(NaturalNews) It seems that no matter how many times government officials try to convince the public that Gulf seafood is safe to eat, Americans simply are not buying it. So the Obama administration has resorted to pushing the stuff on the public sector, which includes the nation's prison systems, the military, and even public schools.

According to a recent report from The Times-Picayune, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus is pushing for America's armed forces to eat "as much Gulf seafood as possible." Mabus is allegedly President Obama's liaison for handling Gulf Coast recovery efforts, and he has recently spent a considerable amount of time consulting with Air Force, Army, and other division officials to convince them to buy more Gulf seafood to feed to servicemen.

Mabus is also working with the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing board to launch a $30 million marketing campaign -- which is partially funded with federal tax dollars -- to persuade people that Gulf seafood is safe and urge them to start eating it again. And Ewell Smith, executive director of the group, is quoted as saying that he hopes Gulf seafood will be a top food choice in the military, prison systems, and school systems as well.

Part of the marketing campaign includes getting Gulf fisheries to become certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, a fishery certification program that promotes sustainable and environmentally-friendly fishing practices. Officials hope the certification will be the key to convincing people that Gulf seafood is safe and healthy.

From the very beginning, the government has been telling the public that Gulf seafood is safe to eat, even though oil and other toxic chemical dispersants are still being found in Gulf waters months after the spill (https://www.naturalnews.com/030287_Gulf_oil_s...). So many question whether or not it is telling the truth now.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/inde...