4 ms·

Morally, I'm not sure if controlling the gender ratio of a fish population is much worse than killing and eating them.

throwanem 10y ago
I wouldn't be surprised if the concern were less about morality than about ingesting unduly high doses of hormones which might have some metabolic effect on humans as well as on fish.
- koolba 10y ago
  > I wouldn't be surprised if the concern were less about morality than about ingesting unduly high doses of hormones which might have some metabolic effect on humans as well as on fish. Bingo. I have zero moral issue asserting my dominance as the apex predator of this ball of mud to consume any and all prey that my heart desires. What I do take issue with is not knowing the long term effects of things like high doses of hormones on us (humans). I'm not educated enough in that field to know if my fears are well founded, but my gut tells me I'll be better off not eating Tilapia so I don't have to worry about my dick falling off (or growing a new one!).
  - natecavanaugh 10y ago
    That's the thing though, if wikipedia is to be believed, and testosterone is the hormone most often used, we do know the end effects of consuming it. Sure, testosterone is an insanely powerful hormone, but it's not like the effects of it on humans is misunderstood or harmful. I'm trying to imagine how much damage could be wrought at even large amounts of tilapia (at least from the hormonal aspect...).
    - throwanem 10y ago
      Well, as far as "harmful" goes, there's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycystic_ovary_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycystic_ovary_syndrome, for a start.
      - peyton 10y ago
        I believe the parent was referring to oral administration of testosterone (or, in the case of most fish, 11-ketotestosterone). Levels in a typical serving of tilapia are probably in the nanogram range. Oral bioavailability in humans of around 3% puts us in the picogram range of dosage, or about a billionth of what the average male produces in a week. You'd need a pretty healthy appetite to get PCOS from tilapia.
        throwanem 10y ago
        Sure. But fish may not be the only animals so treated. And, in any case, you did say that testosterone's effect on humans is not harmful. We have here a case in which it is. There are many others, for this and other hormones. To blithely discount the possibility that eating hormone-treated meat may pose a risk seems therefore rather optimistic.
  - throwanem 10y ago
    > I have zero moral issue asserting my dominance as the apex predator of this ball of mud to consume any and all prey that my heart desires. Delightfully put!

I wouldn't be surprised if the concern were less about morality than about ingesting unduly high doses of hormones which might have some metabolic effect on humans as well as on fish.

koolba 10y ago
> I wouldn't be surprised if the concern were less about morality than about ingesting unduly high doses of hormones which might have some metabolic effect on humans as well as on fish. Bingo. I have zero moral issue asserting my dominance as the apex predator of this ball of mud to consume any and all prey that my heart desires. What I do take issue with is not knowing the long term effects of things like high doses of hormones on us (humans). I'm not educated enough in that field to know if my fears are well founded, but my gut tells me I'll be better off not eating Tilapia so I don't have to worry about my dick falling off (or growing a new one!).
- natecavanaugh 10y ago
  That's the thing though, if wikipedia is to be believed, and testosterone is the hormone most often used, we do know the end effects of consuming it. Sure, testosterone is an insanely powerful hormone, but it's not like the effects of it on humans is misunderstood or harmful. I'm trying to imagine how much damage could be wrought at even large amounts of tilapia (at least from the hormonal aspect...).
  - throwanem 10y ago
    Well, as far as "harmful" goes, there's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycystic_ovary_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycystic_ovary_syndrome, for a start.
    - peyton 10y ago
      I believe the parent was referring to oral administration of testosterone (or, in the case of most fish, 11-ketotestosterone). Levels in a typical serving of tilapia are probably in the nanogram range. Oral bioavailability in humans of around 3% puts us in the picogram range of dosage, or about a billionth of what the average male produces in a week. You'd need a pretty healthy appetite to get PCOS from tilapia.
      - throwanem 10y ago
        Sure. But fish may not be the only animals so treated. And, in any case, you did say that testosterone's effect on humans is not harmful. We have here a case in which it is. There are many others, for this and other hormones. To blithely discount the possibility that eating hormone-treated meat may pose a risk seems therefore rather optimistic.
- throwanem 10y ago
  > I have zero moral issue asserting my dominance as the apex predator of this ball of mud to consume any and all prey that my heart desires. Delightfully put!