Eating whale may add mercury to your hair
Kyodo News has reported on a study that examined the relationship between whale meat consumption and mercury levels found in human hair:
Mercury levels averaged 21.6 ppm among the men and 11.9 ppm among the women, both of which are about 10 times the national average, it said.
The three people whose hair mercury levels exceeded 50 ppm were all men, the team said. The three men ate whale meat more than once a month.
The study found that mercury levels were halved in about two months if the test subjects stopped eating whale meat.
According to the researchers, those with mercury levels measuring 50 parts per million were at risk of developing neurological symptoms, and it was advised that they cut down on the amount of whale they eat.
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I hope that many more Japanese would give up eating whale after reading this piece of news.
I don’t think most of Japanese ppl eat whale meat today to being with, including myself.
Just as soon as they give up fugu.
While there’s something irritating about this fact being used as a convenient reason to attack the pro-whaling camp when I know the anti-whaling camp’s true motives are more irrational and emotional, if it’s true, I have to admit this is a good reason as any to promote a ban on whaling.
…or for domesticating it in clean waters
Exactly. “Invest in the future: Whale Farms!”
Gonna be hard to herd them into corrals, though…
Hey, so what’s wrong with having Mercury Hair?? Queen is cool.
Besides, it’s gotta be better than all that orange crap people put in their hair here.
I suspect this is just some Green Peace nazi propaganda to make people not enjoy the succulent sea cattle’s meat. Can’t smoke on the street or on train platforms, and can’t eat whale… this is NOT the Japan it used to be.
Pilot Whales – the subject of the article – are not whales. They’re dolphins.
Granted, having “whale” in the title guarantees more controversy..
Mmm..dolphins… anyone ever seen dolphin cuts at the grocer? (Not the mislabeled dolphin.)
Yes…at a little Japanese market near ebisu….cheap too….200yen/chunk
This is ridiculous; surely people should have learnt from past whale stories. Eating whale does not add mercury to your hair, eating mercury adds mercury to your hair. Whale meat has tremendous amounts of mercury in it due to the diet of whales (many tens of thousands of small fish). People need to stop the debate about whether whale meat is ethical or not, and throw traditions out the window. If you’re American, you know that eating undercooked meat — like hamburger — or consuming raw egg may very well give you e.coli or salmonella. It doesn’t matter that your grandpa used to be able to eat such things, it’s simply a matter of fact that undercooked food or raw egg nowadays is not 100% safe, and if you get food poisoning from consuming them, it’s entirely your own responsibility. Likewise, anyone who really cares about their health should not be eating whale, or at least consume it VERY infrequently.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/05/030520082803.htm
For that matter, shark fin has even more mercury than whales
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=shark+fin+mercury
“Eating whale does not add mercury to your hair, eating mercury adds mercury to your hair.”
So long as it is just in my hair, its all good.