10:32 06 June 02
Tests on whalemeat on sale in Japan have revealed astonishing levels of mercury. While it has long been known that the animals accumulate heavy metals such as mercury in their tissues, the levels discovered have surprised even the experts.
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(Photo: T Wagner/Saba/Network) |
Two of the 26 liver samples examined contained over 1970 micrograms of mercury per gram of liver. That is nearly 5000 times the Japanese government's limit for mercury contamination, 0.4 micrograms per gram.
At these concentrations, a 60-kilogram adult eating just 0.15 grams of liver would exceed the weekly mercury intake considered safe by the World Health Organization, say Tetsuya Endo, Koichi Haraguchi and Masakatsu Sakata at the University of Hokkaido, who carried out the research. "Acute intoxication could result from a single ingestion," they warn in a draft paper accepted for publication in The Science of the Total Environment.
The researchers call on the government to impose tighter regulations on the consumption of whale organs. In particular, they warn that pregnant women risk poisoning their unborn children. In the 1950s and early 1960s, hundreds of children around Japan's Minamata Bay were born with horrific birth defects after their mothers ate seafood contaminated with mercury compounds, which had been poured raw into the bay since the 1930s. Thousands more suffered brain damage.
Single mouthful
Even veteran researchers from the Minamata saga were shocked by the new figures. "Hirokatsu Akagi, a director of the National Institute for Minamata Disease, was very surprised," says Endo. "He'd never seen levels above 20 micrograms per gram."
On average, concentrations of mercury in whale and dolphin livers were 370 micrograms per gram, 900 times the government limit. Average levels in kidneys and lungs were also high, about 100 times the limit. None of the samples was below the limit.
In work not yet published, Endo's team has shown that rats suffered acute kidney poisoning after a single mouthful of the most highly contaminated liver. While levels were lower in muscle, Endo told New Scientist that on average it still contained 2.5 to 25 times the limit.
The samples came from small-toothed whales and dolphins, catches of which are not restricted by the International Whaling Commission, the international body that regulates whaling. Mercury becomes concentrated in their internal organs when they eat contaminated fish and squid.
Japan continues to campaign vigorously to be allowed to resume full-scale whaling of larger species. But an IWC meeting in May 2002 ended in deadlock.
Andy Coghlan
I know many of you out there are not familiar with the metric system, so please allow me to translate what 0.15 grams of whalemeat actually equates to.
There are 5 grams in a teaspoon, so 0.15 grams is a measly 3% of a teaspoon. This speck of fish is supplying more mercury than the average adult should have in one week!
I have known that mercury in fish has been a problem for some time now, and used to warn that one should restrict fish consumption to a few species. Because some fish have less mercury then others, I thought certain types of fish, eaten in limited quantities, were acceptable.
However, upon more study, I have changed my position. It is my experience that nearly all fish are contaminated with mercury. I have done thousands of hair mineral analysis on patients and the patients who don't eat fish are the ones who have immeasurable levels of mercury in their hair. Anyone eating fish has mercury and nearly always in direct proportion to the frequency they are eating fish.
Although this study was performed on whales in Japan, it is not the only country suffering from pollution. Recently, I posted an article that showed over 5 million pounds of mercury were dumped into the environment by the US alone(one pound is equal to 454,000 mgs). This is causing immeasurable damage to our environment and the food we get from it.
It is confirmation that our species has irreversibly and permanently contaminated the waters of the world to the point that all fish are now toxic, and although I suspect technology will develop in the next few centuries that will clean up this mess, for now we are stuck with this fact.
It is my strong recommendation to AVOID EATING FISH!
It has mercury that will absolutely compromise your health.
We all need the omega-3 fats, but you should get them from a clean source. Most of the fish oil supplements go through a molecular distillation process to clean out the mercury, but you should definitely contact the manufacturer directly to confirm this.
As I have said previously, Costco sells fish oil (Kirkland brand) and I have seen three separate independent analysis that confirms it is free of mercury and also is relatively non-oxidized.
Dr. Mercola
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