Questioning shellfish and liver

[daisymommy]

The area I'm struggling in right now is uncertainty over shellfish and liver. I know that in TF philosophy they are both considered very nutrient dense and good for us to eat.

But in other readings I have come across I am told that:
1) Shellfish are the bottom feeders of the ocean and the filters, that they help keep the ocean clean but process out waste and toxins from the water, and therfore their bodies/meat is not clean and shouldn't be eaten. It makes perfect sense to me. So I don't know how to reconcile this with TF teachings.

2) The liver in an animal does the same thing as I just mentioned above, but for the animal's body: acts as a filter and cleaner of toxins. So why is it okay to eat it? Aren't we ingesting the toxins and bad stuff from the animal's body? Again, not sure what to think here.

Anyone read both sides of the argument who can explain the science behind why it's okay to eat these foods?

TIA!

[daisymommy]

Okay, so I just did a "search" and read some great older posts about the liver. I still need to finish reading them though. Bookmarked for later. Seems the main consensus is that the liver doesn't store toxins. But it does filter them, so I worry some would still be left in the liver when the animal was slaughtered.
Doesn't the liver filter out bodily toxins, not just the ones it ingests from the environment and it's food?

Still need to do a search for shellfish info now...

[spughy]

My understanding is that as far as liver is concerned, the "filter" idea is a flawed analogy. The liver does not store toxins that it cannot metabolize and excrete, they remain in the bloodstream and lodge in lymph and fatty tissues. So, typically beef fat would contain a higher toxin load than would liver. More of an argument against beef fat than liver, and another reason to eat pasture-raised animals from organically-managed pasture.

As far as shellfish go, I don't think there's anything inherently more dirty about the bottom of the ocean than the top - they wouldn't get any more toxins than any other animal that eats plankton, and as toxins tend to bio-accumulate, the highest toxin loads would be in those animals that eat animals that eat animals that eat plankton, not in oysters, which just suck in the plankton. Obviously you would not wanting to be eating oysters from, say, next to a blown-out oil well, but I just ate a whole pile last week from the mostly clean waters of the northern BC Gulf Islands and I feel pretty good about that. I wouldn't eat anything from next to a blown-out oil well, frankly.

I don't mean to downplay concerns about toxins, but I think that as long as you source products carefully the benefits outweigh the risks.