Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right

by Arlie Russell Hochschild

Sometimes the state simply lowered standards of protection. In an astonishing example of this, the Louisiana State Department of Health and Human Science offered advice to officials in other state agencies on what to tell the public about which fish are safe to eat. Issued in February 2012, and still online as of May 5, 2016, the report was written by one set of state officials for another. After a chilling description of a “cancer slope factor,” the report continues, in a matter-of-fact tone, to advise the recreational fisherman on how to prepare a contaminated fish to eat: “Trimming the fat and skin on finfish, and removing the hepatopancreas from crabs, will reduce the amount of contaminants in the fish and shellfish,” the document reads. Baking, broiling, and grilling are good, it said, because “the fat drains away from the fish and shellfish.” Discard “juices which contain the fat . . . to further reduce exposure,” it says. “Some contamination, like mercury and other heavy metals, however, are pervasive in the edible fish tissue,” the report continues, in scientific deadpan prose, “and remain in the fish and shellfish even after cooking.”