Warnings about the heavy metal content in larger and longer-lived ocean fish are nothing new. The situation has, in fact, become worse since the Millennium. Now, a European food safety watchdog has declared canned tuna a ‘colossal risk to public health’…
Foodwatch France conducted its own survey of canned tuna products recently. And the results were not only surprising but alarming. Almost all samples tested from the UK and the EU were found to contain more mercury than allowed under both UK and EU law…
‘Colossal risk’
The survey involved 150 canned tuna products purchased in stores across the UK, Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Germany. An almost unbelievable 148 of those contained detectable amounts of the substance. And more than half of all samples exceeded the 1 mg / 1 kg limit set by law.
The worst-case sample, found in Paris, tested out at 3.9 mg mercury per kg of product. That’s a mon-umental – and tremendously risky 4 times the allowed level.
Now, multiply that risk by the amount of tuna Europeans consume annually. The average EU resident eats more than 2.8 kg of tuna per year, or roughly 25 cans. That’s a heck of a lot of mercury.
Mercury mechanics…
Mercury gets into fish via a sneaky process. the toxic metal is found in seawater everywhere on the planet and is absorbed by fish naturally. The main vector for mercury intake is plant-based food eaten by small fish and other creatures used for food by larger fish. Larger fish effectively take in more-concentrated doses of mercury when they eat the smaller fish. And humans get comparative mega-doses when they eat the tuna.
The sneaky part is, neither fish nor humans expel mercury naturally as part of their normal bodily unctions. The stuff just sits there, building up and up, to higher and higher levels as we grow older…
Ultimately deadly
Too much mercury is ultimately deadly. But the effects of even substantially lesser amounts of the substance can be devastating.
Mercury poisoning is particularly dangerous to the lungs and brain. Some authorities say mercury consumption may be a significant contributor to the ongoing rise in dementia, in general. Not to mention, unborn babies and young children, whose brains are still developing, can suffer serious brain damage if exposed to any amount of mercury.
Other mercury ‘targets’ include the heart, kidneys and immune system. Immune system deficiency and systemic inflammation are among the chief chronic health issues we currently face as a culture.
Symptoms and syndromes…
What are the signs of mercury poisoning? The World Health Organization (WHO) paints a depressing picture:
“Neurological and behavioural disorders may be observed after inhalation, ingestion or dermal exposure of different mercury compounds,” WHO summarizes. Symptoms include:
- tremors,
- insomnia,
- memory loss,
- neuromuscular effects,
- headaches, and
- cognitive and motor dysfunction.
In addition:
- Mild, subclinical signs of central nervous system toxicity can be seen in workers exposed to an elemental mercury level in the air of 20 μg/cubic metre or more for several years.
And:
- Kidney effects have been reported, ranging from increased protein in the urine to kidney failure.
In short, the stuff all around us. And it’s up to each of us to avoid it whenever we can…
What Foodwatch recommends
The watchdog group warns that increased government action and tougher enforcement of the official limits action is required immediately to ensure that excess mercury content in food is effectively con-trolled.
And it’s calling for WHO to mandate a further reduction in the official allowed level of the toxic metal, to 0.3 mg per kg of product.
My take
All tuna are effected equally by the presence of mercury in the oceans, and the universal manner in which the stuff is absorbed by them. Food safety groups and authorities such as WHO have long warned that the danger of mercury contamination in canned tuna increases with the age and size of the fish. And oily fish such as tuna are particularly prone to mercury buildup.
So… We can all assume that the risk uncovered and quantified by the Foodwatch survey exists every-where. We are all, very likely, equally at risk.
The solution to the problem is simple: Just avoid eating canned tuna. And if you think you are par-ticularly at risk, whether because of your diet, workplace or proximity to mercury-involved industry or commerce. talk to your doctor. The good news is, effective treatments are available for both short- and long-term exposure to mercury…
~ Maggie J.