CAMPBELL RIVER, BC, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -A landmark report released today by Positive Aquaculture Awareness (PAA) clearly demonstrates how activists and the media have misled the public into thinking farmed salmon contain high levels of PCBS.

The PAA report comes just days in advance of the release of a new study which is said to examine the level of pesticides and environmental contaminants found in salmon from North and South America and Europe. The coming study is reportedly based on a substantial sample testing of two metric tons of farmed and wild salmon taken from eight countries and 16 cities in Europe and the United States.

"The fact is we anticipate the coming study will show contaminant levels well below the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and World Health Organization (WHO) limits. Our concern has more to do with how the coming study will be reported in the news media," said Laurie Jensen, President, PAA, a grassroots group based in Campbell River, British Columbia.

PAA's report released today looks back on numerous inaccurate media stories about high levels of PCBs in farmed salmon, and how those stories can be traced to two flawed studies, one by Michael Easton and the other by the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

"We've conducted an extensive analysis of these two past studies, and as our report clearly shows, both studies come up extremely short on scientific validity," said Jensen.

Both the Easton and EWG studies contained numerous breaches of scientific methodology, including unrepresentative sample sizes, skewed numbers, inflated measurement values, erroneous assumptions, and activist sponsorship - to name but a few of the problems.

"What's really disappointing is the way the media took these two studies at face value, repeating their erroneous conclusions almost verbatim," Jensen said,

"Journalists failed to give these studies a thorough, critical review and in so doing misled the public away from farmed salmon, one of the most healthy, nutritious foods you can eat," she said. "We hope the coming data on North and South America and Europe will be treated with more care."

The PAA report also highlights the many scientifically valid studies and statements from no less then the National Cancer Institute, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Council on Science and Health, the American Heart Association, the World Health Organization and the National Fisheries institute encouraging consumers to eat more farmed salmon - not less - as part of a healthy, heart-friendly diet.

"With this report we want to make clear once and for all that there is absolutely no scientific basis for the allegation that farmed salmon contains high levels of PCBs," said Dr. Patrick Moore, Chairman and Chief Scientist, Greenspint Strategies Ltd., the company commissioned to prepare the report.

"We hope the media will learn a lesson from this report, and will examine health and nutrition issues more carefully before leaping to alarmist conclusions," Moore said.

The report entitled "Farmed salmon, PCBs, Activists, and the Media" is the first in a series of reports PAA plans to release in subsequent months examining the myths and misinformation surrounding the salmon farming industry,

Electronic copies of the report am available for downloading from the 'reports' section at PAA's website: www.farmfreshsalmon.org