In a letter to President Donald Trump, Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins is asking that all shrimp imports be paused. Higgins says radioactive shrimp on grocery store shelves is a significant public health threat.
Acy Cooper, the president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association, fully supports a suspension of shrimp imports.
“We don’t mind if it’s healthy shrimp coming in, and it’s good product. But when you start bringing it all this junk and stuff in on us, and you don’t know what you’re eating, it’s time to change. And this can be a real game changer for us,” Cooper said.
Cooper notes that the FDA prohibits the use of antibiotics in domestically caught shrimp. He says domestic shrimp is tested more stringently than imported shrimp, and that’s not right.
“These guys are doing all these pesticides and antibiotics and steroids, and getting away with murder, killing our people,” Cooper said.
Cooper says if the government can make it so that shrimpers can earn a living again, there can be enough domestically caught shrimp to meet the demand coast-to-coast.
“We had 20,000 licenses sold in 2000. Today we’ve got about 3,000. But if we can get our price back up to a week where we can make a living again, these people would come back into the industry,” Cooper noted.