Open Letters to David Suzuki Since 2007

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For four years, I have written a series of open letters to Dr. David Suzuki in which I have tried to express my concerns, opinions and questions about the information that David Suzuki and his foundation have been providing to the public about farmed salmon, and salmon farming.   

I am particularly concerned about the misinformation that has been disseminated about PCBs in farmed salmon, and how this has been specifically targeted at pregnant women, women of childbearing age, and young children.  As a nutritionist who worked with UNICEF on maternal and infant nutrition for more than a decade, I know how hard it is to get pregnant women to eat fish - let alone when scientists and trusted, well-respected organizations are telling them not to. 

My over-arching question is this:  Has the David Suzuki Foundation deliberately manufactured controversy over farmed salmon as part of a well-funded, sophisticated marketing strategy to prop up demand for Alaskan "wild" fish by depositioning and demarketing the competing product: imported, farmed salmon?

Here are the letters that I have sent to Dr. Suzuki since May of 2007:

• Letter #1, May 11, 2007: About Salmon Aquaculture

• Letter #2, October 15, 2007: About Sea Lice Research

• Letter #3, April 9, 2009: PCBs in Farmed Salmon

• Letter #4, May 14, 2009: Salmon Aquaculture, PCBs in Farmed Salmon, and Sea Lice

• Letter #5, May 21, 2009: PCBs in Farmed Salmon, and Sea Lice

• Letter #6, June 11, 2009: Sea Lice Research Findings

• Letter #7, June 18, 2009: Sea Lice Research Funding

• Letter #8, September 22, 2009: Sea Lice Research Findings and Funding

• Letter #9, July 29, 2009: Seafood Choices and the Demarketing of Farmed Salmon

• Letter #10, November 9, 2009:  American Funding

• Letter #11, November 12, 2009 RE: Scholarly Integrity

• Letter #12 January 18, 2010 RE: Amounts Received (2000 - 2008): $CAN 61.3 Million?

• Letter #13, February 3, 2010 RE: The Demarketing of Farmed Salmon

Correspondence with the David Suzuki Foundation since January 2011:

• January 20, 2011 RE: $70 Million in Revenues (2000 - 2009)

• January 20, 2011 RE: 20 press releases and web-pages REMOVED

• January 21, 2011 RE: The brochure, "Why You Shouldn't Eat Farmed Salmon"

• March 14, 2001: a heads-up about the op-ed, "David Suzuki's Fish Story"

• March 23, 2011 RE: Appeal to please clarify misinformation about salmon farming

• March 25, 2011 RE: "Why You Shouldn't Eat Farmed Salmon," removed Feb. 30, 2010?

• March 29, 2011 RE: Requests to speak with Mr. Peter Robinson, CEO of the foundation

• e-mail March 25, 2010 RE: new web-pages posted since the spring of 2010

Related correspondence:

• e-mail #1 of January 20, 2011 RE: U.S. Funding to the David Suzuki Foundation

• e-mail #2 of January 20, 2011 RE: 20 press releases and web-pages removed from the web-site of the David Suzuki Foundation

• e-mail January 21, 2011 RE: Funding for the brochure, "Why You Shouldn't Eat Farmed Salmon"

• e-mail March 14, 2011 RE: a heads-up about the op-ed, "David Suzuki's Fish Story"

• e-mail March 23, 2011 RE: when the brochure, "Why You Shouldn't Eat Farmed Salmon" was taken off-line.

• e-mail March 25, 2011 RE: request for my phone call to please be returned

• e-mail March 25, 2010 RE: new web-pages posted since the spring of 2010

• e-mail March 30, 2011 Re: The Globe & Mail.

• e-mail March 30, 2011 Re: Draft post looking back at our  meeting on Feb. 22, 2010