- Pollution of our seafood is now the greatest public health threat that humanity has ever faced.
- Mercury in the oceans has increased 5 times since the Industrial Revolution and is getting worse, scientists measure a 2% rise in mercury per year.
- 70% of the human race relies on seafood as a major source of protein.
- Mercury bio-accumulates in the food chain. Top ocean predators like sea mammals and tuna have high levels of mercury in their meat. These range from 5 to 3500 times the amount of mercury allowed by Japanese law. 0.3 parts per million (ppm) is the published safe limit. The highest concentrations of mercury are found in the animals’ organs.
- Mercury is a neurotoxin and is particularly damaging to fetuses and small children.
- All tuna, including canned is potentially harmful.
- High-grade sushi is the worst source of mercury and other pollutants. Since the best cuts of the meat are from the bigger, fattier fish, more pollutants have bio-accumulated in the meat.
- All Japanese scientists, doctors and medical researchers interviewed for our film have radically reduced or completely eliminated their tuna consumption.
- The half-life of mercury in the human body is about 70-90 days.
- Acute cases in children resemble mental retardation and in adults, dementia.
- Tuna, swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel and marlin should never be eaten by a woman who expects to become pregnant. Children should not eat those fish as well. Even fresh-water lake fish, like walleye pike, has shown toxic levels of mercury toxic.
- Even in small doses of a few parts per million, mercury can cause learning disabilities and damage the senses, especially touch, hearing and vision.
- Mercury is caused mainly from the burning of fossil fuels (coal and gasoline). Coal, when burned, releases mercury which accounts for 70 percent of this pollutant's presence in the atmosphere.
- China has plans to open about one new coal-fired power plant a week, for the next 20 years.
- The solution to reducing the mercury in the oceans is to reduce our dependence on coal and increase our smart choices of energy like solar, wind and hydro.
Posted
on Wed, February 20, 2008
by
OPS
