Thread: New York sushi tainted with mercury

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New York sushi tainted with mercury
Researcher says next significant source could be China

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Posted: August 30, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern



© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com


Eating tuna sushi in New York has "moved from fashionable dining to a high risk sport," according to a researcher whose new report shows servings in top restaurants contain mercury levels high enough for the Food and Drug Administration to order them taken off the market.

While the contamination is attributed to a home-grown problem – emissions from coal-fired power plants concentrated in areas such as the Great Lakes and the Northeast – the next great source of the threat, the researcher told WND, could be China, a nation which already has delivered ginger contaminated with a pesticide, fish raised in untreated sewage, toothpaste containing a solvent and children's clothing with formaldehyde embedded.

"Toxic Tuna: An Undercover Investigation of Mercury-Laden Tuna in New York City's Premiere Sushi Restaurants" is a project of Caryn Mandelbaum, an environmental health advocate with GotMercury.org. She said it follows on the heels of a report from the New York City Department of Health that one in four people in New York has elevated mercury levels in their body.

"Consumers need to know the risks of eating tuna sushi and know about healthier alternatives when it comes to dining out," she said.

Her work showed that over 20 percent of the samples taken from the restaurants were considered unsafe for all consumers because they exceeded the FDA action level of one part per million of mercury.

"Although no enforcement mechanism has been implemented, the FDA theoretically has the power to remove any fish with mercury levels higher than the action level from the retail market," the assessment said.

Mandelbaum told WND that pregnant women, unborn children, babies and children especially are susceptible to mercury poisoning, with the results ranging from mental retardation to slower motor skills. For adults, the mercury attaches to cells in the blood vessel walls, leaving them in danger of heart attacks.

"What we recommend is that all restaurants carry signs to alert consumers to items that have the highest levels of mercury," she told WND. "It's not that we recommend they never eat those. But we recommend people moderate their intake of that fish."

She said research shows the mercury is distributed across the oceans from emissions from coal-fired power plants and pointed to the Great Lakes and Northeast parts of the U.S. for their heavy concentration of such plants.

However, she said a looming threat is from quickly developing China, where factories for consumer goods delivered worldwide are springing up overnight and demanding huge amounts of power for the machinery.

Power plants are springing up there just as quickly.

"China is building many more factories [that will be powered] by coal," she said. "We expect a higher mercury deposit [to develop there]."

It is definitely something to watch for in the future, she noted, or more problems will develop similar to New York's.

There, she said, an adult weighing 150 pounds and eating eight ounces of tuna sushi weekly soon would reach blood mercury levels of 300 percent the FDA recommended level.

"Recent epidemiological studies show adults with regular mercury-laden seafood diets have a 15 percent greater likelihood of heart attack," the assessment said.

"Given the ample evidence of elevated mercury levels in fish and humans, government agencies now have a direct target from which it can better protect public health," Mandelbaum wrote. "NYC's Department of Health mercury study is the perfect example of how governments can be more accountable to consumer health. Testing and rejecting toxic tuna before it reaches consumer markets is the next logical step."

She recommended the FDA should be more proactive in updating consumer advisories about mercury, reflecting the dangerous levels found in tuna, and should conduct random testing of seafood imports, rejecting shipments with fish at the one-part-per-million level or above.

Random tests also should be done at fish markets, supermarkets and restaurants, she said.

WND earlier reported on a number of contamination problems with products from China, including the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's advice to not eat fresh ginger from China. Certain batches were found to contain the hazardous pesticide Aldicarb sulfoxide.

WND broke the story earlier that questioned whether China was trying to poison Americans and their pets when an estimated 39,000 dogs and cats died in the U.S. after eating poisoned pet food.

Among problems reported so far:


Foods imported for consumption by American humans may be, in some cases, as dangerous as the pet food. A WND study found the vast majority of imported foods rejected as unfit for human consumption by the Food and Drug Administration are from China. FDA inspectors report tainted food imports intended for American humans are being rejected with increasing frequency because they are filthy, are contaminated with pesticides and tainted with carcinogens, bacteria and banned drugs.

China, the leading exporter of seafood to the U.S., is raising most of its fish products in water contaminated with raw sewage and compensating by using dangerous drugs and chemicals, many of which are banned by the Food and Drug Administration.

The deadly contaminant found in Chinese-made toothpaste – diethylene glycol – is a solvent used in antifreeze that killed 107 Americans when it was introduced in an elixir 70 years ago.

A resurgence in lead-poisoning cases in U.S. children is being linked to Chinese imports – toys, makeup, glazed pottery and other products that contain significant amounts of lead and are being recalled by the CPSC on a regular basis.

Imports from China were recalled by the CPSC twice as often as products made everywhere else in the world, including the U.S., showed a WND study of 2007 government reports.

The rising cost of fireworks, almost all of which are made in China, as well as safety concerns and human rights concerns about the conditions of those manufacturing the products resulted in a decrease of Independence Day displays in the U.S.

WND revealed there are currently no safety standards established between the U.S. and China on food, drugs and other imports. As a result of WND's series, members of Congress began working on setting new standards.

WND revealed how China is shipping to the U.S. honey tainted with a potentially life-threatening antibiotic as well as adulterating exports with sugar.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=57376

So glad I don't eat that crap...raw fish with mercury filling ...yeah right ...only if I am stranded in the wilderness...
someone pass the cheese puffs, please...but make sure they are American puffs

We need to push for food labeling... If I am not mistaken food was suppossed to be labed with origination of the food clearly labeled.

Does anyone know why our foods arnt labeled by origination..... How in the world can I by American if it is not labeled (Or maybe thats the reason)