title: Fish, contaminants and human health: quantifying and weighing benefits and risks.
abstract: This paper describes a quantitative risk-benefit assessment of fish consumption. We compare the net health effect expressed in DALYs of two scenarios. The reference scenario is the current fish intake of the Dutch population, which is less than what is recommended by the health authorities. The alternative scenario describes the health effects if the population consumes 200g of fish per week, which is close to the recommendation. All health effects due to fish consumption for which there is convincing evidence are incorporated in the assessment. The QALIBRA software (www.qalibra.eu) is used to simulate the two scenarios. The results show there is a net benefit for the population if it consumes 200g of fish each week.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands. jeljer.hoekstra@rivm.nl
authors.forename: Jeljer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hoekstra
authors.forename: Andy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zeilmaker
authors.forename: Bas
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bokkers
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thorgilsson
authors.forename: Helga
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gunnlaugsdottir
mesh_terms: D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005506:Food Contamination; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017747:Seafood; D013076:Sperm Count; D020521:Stroke / Q000209:etiology; D013963:Thyroid Hormones / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D013963:Thyroid Hormones