January 13, 2009
Menhaden: the Miracle Fish?
BY: Emily Fisher
A few days ago, the Boston Globe ran a heartrending story about a little girl’s battle with a rare disease.Her father, Gib Brogan, is a campaign projects manager for Oceana. His two and-a-half year-old daughter Ellie has rare “short gut syndrome”, which means she was born with a tiny fraction of her small intestine and missing some of her colon. Her doctors said that if she didn’t get a liver transplant by her first birthday, the disease could be fatal. But thanks to a new fish oil therapy, Omegaven, Ellie is doing just fine — there’s even video from the Boston Globe story to prove it (watch below.) Omegaven is made from menhaden, a tiny fish that plays a crucial role in Atlantic ecosystems. In fact, a book published in 2007 by our friends at Island Press is titled The Most Important Fish in the Sea: Menhaden and America. In addition to their important ecological role, the fish are harvested en masse for animal feed and fertilizer. Read the full story, or learn more about Ellie Brogan at her blog, The Short Gut News.
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