266156 Reassuring or risky? The presentation of seafood safety following the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill

Monday, October 29, 2012 : 11:10 AM - 11:30 AM

Amelia Louise Greiner, MS, PhD , Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Lisa Lagasse, MHS , Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Roni Neff, PhD , Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
David Love, PhD, MSPH , Center for a Livable Future and Environmental Health Sciences Dept, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Rachel Chase, BS , International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Natasha Sokol, MPH , Health, Behavior, and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Katherine Clegg Smith, PhD , Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
INTRODUCTION Seafood safety messages appearing in news reporting about the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill have the potential to mitigate health threats and elucidate connections between environmental concerns and food systems concerns.

METHODS We collected 315 articles about the oil spill and its impact on seafood safety from seven newspapers (3 regional, 4 national) for the six months following the spill and the four weeks surrounding the one-year anniversary. Newspaper articles were coded for the types of risks mentioned, the sources who commented on seafood safety, and the framing of seafood safety messages. We assessed trends in these variables using mixed methods

RESULTS Seafood safety appeared in 22% of headlines. Gulf Seafood Risk (GSR) appeared as a stand-alone issue in 29% of news stories, while 66% discussed GSR in conjunction with either environmental or ecological risks. Despite such broad coverage of GSR, only 9% of articles provided guidance on how individuals may avoid exposure. Government sources were most frequently quoted about seafood safety. The odds that government source would use a “reassuring” frame (compared to “risk”) were 3.9. The odds were 3.8 for marketing organizations, 0.73 for fishermen, 0.44 for Gulf residents and 0.36 for independent evaluators.

CONCLUSION Seafood safety messages focused largely on policy as a means of secondary prevention, with policy makers aiming to reassure the public. More nuanced and informative messages would include means of avoiding contaminated seafood, policies designed to address the impacts of the spill, as well as the policies and practices leading to the spill.

Learning Areas:
Communication and informatics
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the extent and nature of news coverage relevant to seafood safety following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill; and 2. Discuss the relevance of health and environmental risks in the context of news media coverage following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

Keywords: Communication, Food Safety

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have completed doctoral-level training in the field of public health, I participated in collecting and analyzing the data, and I am lead author on this study.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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