Heavy as in terms of mercury. According to the NY Times, Bluefin Tuna sushi — regardless of the source — has exceptional levels of mercury that were high enough to warrant action to take it off the market.
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23 Comments
According to the article, “Mercury levels in bluefin are likely to be very high regardless of location” which means even in Korea.
Ouch.
Question: why is that?
littlebrownasian:
“These findings reinforce results in other studies showing that more expensive tuna usually contains more mercury because it is more likely to come from a larger species, which accumulates mercury from the fish it eats. Mercury enters the environment as an industrial pollutant.”
#3,
Sorry for not making my question clearer. I know what it said, what I’m asking is why is it that bluefin tuna has higher levels of mercury concentration than yellowfin or albacore, yet they inhabit pretty much the same ocean waterspots.
(fyi, I used to work as operations officer for a tuna export company in Palau for 5 years prior to coming to Korea, so this finding is a bit surprising given the accounts of our fishermen regarding tuna habitats).
Maybe bluefin is fattier (more white meat)? Toxins accumulate in fat. In any case, I’ve about given up on all tuna.
Sweet! Hopefully now the Autralians will stop eating tuna and the price will go down for the rest of us.
The Japanese are some of the longest living around, so I imagine it can’t be too bad.
Theres a rather cute website I ran across that has a mercury calculator the determines the proper intake for various kinds of fish based on the mercury in them.
http://www.gotmercury.org/
for that matter ther eis also and EPA website that explains it all in Korea(!) http://www.epa.gov/waterscienc.....dvice.html
Generally if you just get light tuna you get a third less mercury, I believe this has to do with less oil in it, which may containt he majority of mercury.
Its sad this is the only variety you can get among canned fish. It’s frustrating to go to the super market and find and entire ailse going to the ceiling filled with various kinds of Tuna. There is no alternative except one or two shelves devoted to mackarel.
On a similar note: why has all the canned salmon disapeared from Korean shelves? It had nearly no mercury in it, was healthy and versitile in cooking and despite being a little expensive I could get it in either E-mart or Nonghyup with no trouble at all (usually came in a silver three can set). 6 months ago it completely disapeared. Was there some protectionist policy enacted I don’t know of?
#2: The general rule of thumb is that the longer a fish lives, the more mercury it builds up in its body.
Third paragraph:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/re.....053316.htm
#3: mercury (like arsenic) is 100% natural…
while the fact that “Mercury enters the environment as an industrial pollutant” is not a lie, it is entirely misleading:
http://www.consumerfreedom.com.....dline/3033
a) The statement in not exclusive of other sources of mercury;
b) fails to adress the fact that it was naturally there to begin with;
c) does not address the distinction between atmospheric mercury and oceanic mercury, the former is clearly linked to manmade pollution, the later not.
Before Night of the Living Dead there was the black and white Japanese horror film Hatters of Minimata which addressed the issue of eating of carnivorous fish at the top of the food chain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
Hmmmm, real interestin’ — thanks.
I’m reminded of this article from Japundit:
http://japundit.com/archives/2006/03/08/2079/
The study that has the same findings in the NYTimes article was done by a medical university, so it sounds a lot more respectable, but at the same time I wonder if it gets any fishy funding
Maybe the Japanese really are doing some scientific testing on all those Wales. After all, how much mercury could some of those buggers hold?
We cant eat fish bc of heavy metals…beef bc of madcow…chicken bc of the bird flu…vegetables bc of genetic engineering. WTF am I supposed to eat???
#6 Maybe the life span of an average Japanese will now go down!
NYTom — think pigeon . . .
#8 cptbbq:
“…does not address the distinction between atmospheric mercury and oceanic mercury, the former is clearly linked to manmade pollution, the later not.”
Aren’t heavy metals (to include mercury) usually present in coal? And if coal powerplant emissions aren’t “scrubbed” at the source (as is the case with most coal powerplants?) aren’t these heavy metals are therefore going up the chimney, into the atmosphere, and eventually settling out onto the world’s oceans?
There may also be mercury runoff into the world’s oceans from anywhere there is “wildcat” hard rock gold mining going on — given the traditional use of mercury to separate gold from the ore.
This Wall Street Journal article reports an instance of mercury poisoning due to tuna. Worrying stuff…
http://www.chelationtherapyonl.....l/p112.htm
Well, Peter Pan, I think it’s subjective to how much tuna the average Japanese eats, and from what I can tell, it’s not a daily thing. Also, a lot of the long lived Japanese are from the southern isles Okinawa, not to mention that the diet of the past was more healthy than it is not (and tuna was usually too costly for the average citizen to get).
Considering how much crap was dumped into the seas by every nation at some point in time, I do take mercury levels into consideration, though that doesn’t stop me from gorging on tuna sushi every so often.
Also, from what I can recall, mercury poisoning doesn’t directly affect the longevity of a persons life. Wikipedia says it, “Symptoms typically include sensory impairment (vision, hearing, speech), disturbed sensation and a lack of coordination.” From my experience with Japanese students, maybe the mercury is already quite in their systems already…
#16)
The Wallstreet Journal entry was a real eye opener. The effects of one
packcan a day of tuna could cause terminal illness in anyone, within the course of a year. What’s far more deplorable is how “big tuna” is targeting our children (and pregnant women!) with colorful cartoon charters like “Charlie the tuna”, “starfish”, and “bumble bee”, and fool everyone into thinking that processed alternatives are “junk food”. Obviously we need a surgeon generals warning on each can of tuna, and force them to include a picture of some deranged handi-tard with mercury poisoning on the lid, just so the consumers will know what they are getting with each can. Finally we will have to tax it so that we can combat the effects of second hand mercury poisoning coursing through our sanitation systems.(the article wasn’t bad, but its hard to parody something that parodies itself, esp. around “his brain food” and “Industry Marketing” I couldn’t help laughing)
@Paul H
The point is that while atmospheric mercury is soley the fault of mankind, mercury is naturally sloshing around in our ocean and sitting in our soil. Of course, mercury in the air will eventually find its way into the oceans. No one denies this, but its more of a fact that thats where it is naturally as well.
maybe this link will help:
http://www.crwi.org/textfiles/mercury.htm
At this point it becomes an issue of how much atmospheric Hg is affecting the levels of oceanic Hg. For that you can refer to my previous science daily link I provided, which states that when tuna from 2003 is compared with that since 1964, there is no increase in the amount of mercury detected. This coud lead one to concluded that the effect from atmospheric Hg is close to negligible due to the current volume of mercury that is naturally there to begin with.
You seem to be correct that coal has a lot of Hg in it, coal being organic in nature one wonders how the mercury got there in the first place. Evidently plants also have mercury in then, in some cases more than fish (take that vegans!). Except they leached it from the soil. So millions of years ago plants leached Hg from the soil, they died, were covered up, decomposed, changed with preasure into coal, which we dig up and burn rereleasing mercury only for it to be reabsorbed back into the … oceans and soil such is live. Barring better methods to direct measure the levels fo mercury in the ocean, I guess we won’t know for sure.
@ Peter Pan)
Well I don’t see terrapin on their mercury list, so you know what that means… ^^
Mmmmm turtle! Get in ma bellay! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_soup
arthjourneyman
I think the individuals that live really long are usually from Okinawa, but the average seems to be higher on the ‘mainland’. In especially now more than ever, in Okinawa it seems like all they do is eat super salty pork and drink lots of alcohol.
Maybe the Japanese life span will go down though, I think it is already on the decline actually.
I own a copy of the book “The Okinawan Diet,” which presents findings of the long running Okinawa Centenarian Study in the first few chapters. According to the book, longevity in Japan increases as one moves from north to south. The principal reason given in the book is dietary differences: Okinawans have access to fresh produce year-round while Japanese in Hokkaido consume high amounts of salted fish, pickled vegetables, salty soy sauce and miso; a diet high in sodium can cause high blood pressure in salt-sensitive people. Heart attacks are rare, but strokes are common among Asians. Another possible reason for the longevity difference not specifically mentioned in the book is the benefits of sunshine. High levels of naturally synthesized vitamin D are strongly correlated with reduced risks of many diseases, including cancers and heart disease.
Interesting stuff. I’ve heard that before with the diet in relation to the climate, but in today’s day and age with airplanes, ovens and what not, are those issues still relevant?