Theres an old saying about opinions and everybody having one thats not fit to print but the reality is opinions are important and so are opinion pieces like the one that ran Monday in Seafood Source titled Only the Lawyers Win. It was a look at the latest chapter in the story about efforts to keep Vietnamese pangasius out of the U.S. market. It was right on the money in function but it strayed into dangerous territory in form.

About eight paragraphs in, from the sheath of anonymity, the author pulls a sharp and pointed allegation that smears domestic catfish producers the same way theyve sullied the imports they so publicly lobby against. The allegation claims summer crop dusters routinely bomb catfish ponds with herbicides and pesticides.

Ive written many times about the facts of this case and one of those facts is domestic, farm raised catfish is a delicious, healthy fish, safely harvested in the U.S.

I have railed against the Catfish Farmers of America for misrepresenting data and warping anecdotal stories of woe into food safety scares that have little or no validity, calling their tales deep friend distortion. And I stand by those allegations. But I cant stand by and let unnamed sources use the destructive tactics of our proverbial, so-called adversaries against them.

Everyone writing about this topic would do better to stick with named sources and facts rather than innuendo.