Have you ever wondered where the supposedly sustainable farmed fish you see at the grocery store comes from?

In this episode, Therese Markow, Susan Ryan, and Maya Martin discuss the environmental and human-rights costs in global aquaculture, with a focus on inland fish farms in China and the fish meal used to feed farmed seafood. They break down some of the findings from the Outlaw Ocean Project in greater detail regarding the governmental oversight gaps, the international impact of these fish farms, and concerns about employee relocation.

Key Takeaways:

• Many of the workers at the aquaculture fish farms in inland China are relocated from other parts of China, and even North Korea.

• A large portion of what's being imported into the US doesn't undergo a physical inspection by the FDA. A physical inspection is where you would expect to find things like chemicals that shouldn't be in your food, antibiotics, or spoiled products.

• ⅔ of the global aquaculture industry is carnivorous or fed, so most of it relies on fish meal or fish oil, which is tied to other problems.

• The very wild fish that we're supposed to be protecting by fish farming are the ones being exploited, and the wild fish populations are still being damaged.

"As a consumer, what you can do is focus on eating locally caught seafood - if you see it come in from the fishing boat, then it's a lot harder for hidden abuses to sneak in. You can also focus on eating more sustainable types of aquaculture, such as bivalves, which are mussels and oysters and things like that." — Maya Martin

Connect with The Outlaw Ocean Project:

Outlaw Ocean Project: https://theoutlawocean.com/

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Bluesky: @CriticallySpeaking.bsky.social

Instagram: @criticallyspeakingpodcast

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

What if you could prevent cancer before you ever have to find a cure for it?

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Paul Sax discuss the preventative vaccines which can block cancer-causing infections. They break down the infections that cause cancer, how they can be transmitted, and encourage people to consider getting the vaccines either for themselves or for their children. Many of the vaccines are offered in childhood, such as for HPV, which can be received as early as age 9, and for Hepatitis B, which can be offered as early as birth. They discuss other infections, the benefits and side effects of vaccines, and stress risk-benefit communication between patients and their healthcare providers.

Key Takeaways:

• Some infections cause cancer- the best-known are HPV and Hepatitis B. Getting the vaccines that prevent infections occurring in childhood can then prevent the occurrence of cancer, which often doesn't happen until decades later.

• When people catch Hepatitis B in childhood, that is what causes cancer. When it is caught as an adult, it causes other issues, but not cancer.

• While some people may get side effects from vaccines, if you weigh the risks and benefits, almost always, the approved and recommended vaccines greatly favor getting the vaccine over not getting it.

"We spend enormous resources trying to cure cancer, and we should, but we have the opportunity to prevent these two virus-related cancers with our vaccine, and that's a great achievement of modern medicine, and we should take advantage of it." — Dr. Paul Sax

Connect with Dr. Paul Sax:

Professional Bio: https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/doctors/s/paul-sax-3001918

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/paul-sax-8a9431114

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Bluesky: @CriticallySpeaking.bsky.social

Instagram: @criticallyspeakingpodcast

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

Things you do or are exposed to early in life, including during fetal development, can actually affect your health later in adulthood. Normally, we're unaware of it, and it's difficult to make the connection. Today, Dr. Cheryl Rosenfeld dives into some of the research regarding placentas and their key implications in every life.

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Cheryl Rosenfeld discuss how prenatal exposures can alter placental function, fetal brain development, and later-life health, with varying effects based on fetal sex. They expose the dangers of BPA and substitutes such as BPS, the importance of the neurotransmitters created by the placenta to the developing fetal brain, and the surprising results Dr. Rosenfeld has found in her research into maternal probiotic supplementation.

Key Takeaways:

• The placenta is an endocrine organ. There are sex differences in the placenta between male and female fetuses.

• The placenta provides neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin, to the brain. If there's not enough serotonin, that could compromise early brain development and make a child unfortunately vulnerable to diseases later in life.

• While many people try to avoid BPA, we are all impacted by it or by one of its substitutes. In a side-by-side study shot with BPA and BPS (a common substitute), it was found that both of them have equally harmful effects on the placenta.

"Essentially, all the fetal organs depend on that placenta. So if you affect the function of the placenta, it will affect the vital processing of all the other fetal organs." — Dr. Cheryl Rosenfeld

Connect with Dr. Cheryl Rosenfeld:

Professional Bio: https://cvm.missouri.edu/pathobiology-and-integrative-biomedical-sciences/faculty/cheryl-s-rosenfeld-dvm-phd/

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cheryl-Rosenfeld

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qluXCCYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Rosenfeld+Cheryl+S&sort=date

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Bluesky: @CriticallySpeaking.bsky.social

Instagram: @criticallyspeakingpodcast

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.