The Effect of Merury on Japanese Babies
G'day, friends ~ i'm from Australia and have been filming whale behaviour and researching them for years and i thought i would drop in for a visit and give you a little information that may shock people who eat whale meat, and especially pregnant mothers who have eaten it.
I will attach the report, and please consider your families, mothers and sisters, and make them aware of this problem. Thankyou ~~
Whale Call Incorporated,
www.whalecall.org , an international non-profit NGO, is concerned with ocean research and conservation.
Whale Call research has indicated specific concerns relating to the health of Japanese children.
The following letter outlines our concern ~~
Is Your Government Stealing Away Your Children's Future?
____________________________________________________
Raise Your Voice against Whaling & Whale meat Consumption
Stop Poisoning your Babies with Mercury and PCB's
In the history of every culture, there comes a time when customs and practices must change for the good of humankind. That time has come for Japan. It is time to face the concerns of the scientific community and stop hunting and consuming whales, for the sake of the Japanese people and the future of the marine mammals.
Pro-whaling nations insist that whale meat is healthier than beef. But the truth is that whales are particularly vulnerable to environmental contaminants, including organochlorines such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and dioxin and heavy metals, such as mercury and methylmercury.
High levels of mercury appear to be present in whale meat sold widely as food in Japan, even in schools, with further sales of cheap whale meat to be sold on the menus of hospitals, bars and more schools.
Scientists warn that women and children are highly vulnerable and affected by the consumption of contaminated whale meat. Pregnant women consuming toxic whale meat place their babies and themselves in immediate danger. And all that, with their government's blessings.
Frank Cipriano, PhD, director of the Conservation Genetics Laboratory at San Francisco State University, stated that "This is a clear signal that Japan has a major health problem that the government has not addressed."
The effects of environmental contaminants on humans are serious. PCBs can cause neurotoxicity (nerve damage), reproductive and developmental disorders, immune system suppression, liver damage, skin irritation, and endocrine disruption. DDT exposure is associated with certain cancer risks and neurological and reproductive disorders. Dioxins, among the most toxic substances known, can cause cancer, metabolic dysfunction, and immune system disorders.
According to a study by Japanese scientists, some samples contain almost 200 times the maximum safety value.
In 2002, University of
Hokkaido researchers found that liver samples from whales and dolphins had average mercury concentrations 900 times the safety limit. Two of the samples were 9000 times the limit.
As for toxicity, mercury safety limits were breached in 62 per cent of samples, and methylmercury limits, a more toxic form of mercury formed by bacterial action in the water, were exceeded in 53 per cent of samples.
The average level of mercury and that of methylmercury were, respectively, more than five times and nearly four times the maximum allowable levels.
All the small cetacean samples were above the limit for both mercury and methylmercury.
The irony, says the report, is that whale meat is marketed in Japan as a health food, distributed for school lunches and even for medical benefits.
Norway, the only other country that kills significant numbers of whales, in 2003 advised pregnant and breastfeeding women against eating whale meat because of worries about mercury.
Mercury in the Umbilical Cord: Implications for Risk Assessment for Minamata Disease.
Scientists examined the relation between the mercury concentrations in umbilical cord tissue and the methylmercury levels in the mother窶冱 hair and in the umbilical cord blood. The umbilical cord tissue was obtained from 50 births in the Faroe Islands, where high methylmercury intake is caused by regularly eating a lot of pilot whale meat.
Minamata disease is the name given to the bad effects caused by methylmercury in Japanese people living on Minamata Bay, Japan. These Japanese fishing villagers were severely poisoned with methylmercury by regularly eating a lot of fish locally caught in Minamata Bay, Japan, for a long time. A local Japanese industry dumped great amounts of mercury-containing industrial waste directly into Minamata Bay Japan.
The methylmercury levels in the umbilical cord tissue match-up well with those methylmercury levels found in the umbilical cord blood and almost as well with the methylmercury levels found in the mother窶冱 hair.
These scientists found that high levels of methylmercury in the umbilical cord tissue are clearly related to how often the pregnant mothers ate how much pilot whale meat. There was substantial variation in methylmercury levels from one mother-child pair to the next.
Relying on whale meat as a source of protein is not just dangerous for adults, it can also be unhealthy for their children.
Suffice to say, the Japanese government should consider halting commercial whaling and the consumption of highly toxic whale meat for the sake of their future offspring.
It is time for the women of Japan to stand up and oppose the Japanese government's plans to hide the truth. Whale meat is dangerous and should be omitted immediately from the human diet.
The awful truth must be spread and widely known.
While we recognise the significance of whales & whaling in the history and culture of Japan, we believe that it is time to look into the future, and stop a practice that puts in danger the health of generations to come.
~~~
窶彳very drop of rain that falls ends up in the mouths of whales 窶 it is up to humans to control what substances enter that raindrop during its journey to the ocean窶
Blessings peace&unity Toneza