Then join us in fighting for Japanese consumers rights to know the extra 'ingredients' and risks eating whale and dolphin poses.
When scientists record mercury levels over a THOUSAND times the maximum level set for sea food you know there is a serious problem.
Even if this most contaminated meat is being sold to the petfood industry its not something I would feed even a dog.
Japan continues with the dolphin hunts and at this very second is engaged in killing whales in the Northern Pacific. All meat from these hunts is to contaminated to be considered food.
Scientists earn their right to point out life threatening practises. Their words should not be ignored!!
You can do your part by learning about how serious the contamination is and advising those Japanese you meet and like in Japan not to eat it. You may not be able to save them all, but you may be able to save some of the people close to you.
This is life and death here, we are talking about people!!
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Professor Haraguchi of Daiichi College gave a research paper at a Nagoya toxicology symposium in which he and his colleagues urged:
"We respectfully urge the Japanese Government to issue appropriate warnings to the Japanese public about the risks associated with consumption of ceatacean (whale and dolphin) products, and act accordingly to end the unacceptable exposure to such products.
An important first step would be to immediately ban the sale of contaminated products. Our results further suggest a critical need for the government to initiate a comprehensive legal investigation of the relevant food industry, including processing, distribution, labeling and marketing of foodstuffs containing cetacean products."
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Dr. Koichi Haraguchi of Daiichi College of Pharmaceutical Science said that whale meat sold in Japan "exceeded the acceptable levels of contamination" for chemical pollutants such as PCBs, mercury and DDT and that, "more than half of the samples contained toxic substances above the national and international safety standards and were not suitable for human consumption."
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"subsistence Arctic whale hunters on Baffin Island have discovered that mothers can no longer nurse their infants because their milk is contaminated with heavy metals and PCBs. According to another International Whaling Commission meeting, reports on contaminant levels in whale meat in Japan "detected mercury some 1,600 times above the government permitted level, as well as large amounts of organic mercury and cadmium in whale meat that is widely available."
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Dr. Tetsuya Endo, of the Hokkaido Health Science University, the Dai Ichi Health Science University and New Zealand Health Science University conducted a three-year joint study on mercury levels of dolphin meat from dolphins caught off the coast of Japan -- including Taiji. They found very high levels of mercury in every sample of dolphin meat that they tested. Their conclusion: nobody should consume dolphin meat. Dr. Endo is a highly respected Japanese scientist. His report on mercury tainted dolphin meat was published in 2005.
The fact that the Japanese Minister of Health and Welfare has known about the danger yet chose not to warn the public about it defies all logic.
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We know that eating whale meat is a REALLY BAD IDEA and that there is no proven way of decontaminating it.
What follows is a sample of some of the sites that fill the internet.
Mercury poisoning is real and not something to be fooled around with.
Exposing people to it by not informing them of the test results or even a correct species ID (dolphin sold as whale) is just a really low act by the Japanese government.
The meat is bad.... it may not be the reason to not whale... but it is certainly a good reason to not feed whales to children.
It would also be a good idea to educate the consumer so they can make a better call on if they wish to take the risk.
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Mercury and children
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Mercury in food
How mercury gives you brain damage
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User guides to eating Japanese whale
Dolphin drives
Mercury in dolphins
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User guides to eating dolphin
Must never happen again.
Those that would still doubt the horror of Minamata
Try this link for some pictures.
Beware it is very sad, one of those lest we forget moments really.
Whales are increasingly being found with health problems.
Some of these, such as brucellosis effect the ability to breed in whales.
While this infection is also a health risk to human, it is another factor we have to take into consideration as far as its effect on long term breeding by whales.
A link on its ability to infect humans.
Not the sort of meat I would eat RAW!
And now some quotes on it being found in Minke.
Otsuchi Marine Research Center,
Ocean Research Institute,
The University of Tokyo,
2-106-1, Akahama,
Iwate 028-1102, Japan.
Abnormal testes and uterus were observed in 13 males (33%) and one female (3%) out of 40 common minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) in the western North Pacific.
Similar lesions were found in testis and ovary, respectively, in one male (2%) and female (2%) out of 43 Bryde's whales (Balaenoptera edeni) in the western North Pacific.
Grossly, granular lesions with caseation and calcification were main pathological signs, and they were restricted to reproductive organs of mature whales.
Chronic purulent or granulomatous orchitis was observed by microscopic analysis.
Antibodies to Brucella species were detected in the serum samples of 15/40 (38%) of common minke whales and 4/43 (9%) of Bryde's whales.
Neither pathological nor serological change was found in the examined sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the western North Pacific and Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis).
These results strongly suggest that Brucella infection was involved in two species of baleen whales (Mysticeti) in the North Pacific.
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If a disease that rots your balls or ovary is not scary enough.... consider just how wormy whale meat is.
Crassicaudosis: a parasitic disease threatening the health and population recovery of large baleen whales.
Lambertsen RH.
Ecosystems Technology Transfer, University Science Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6068.
This communication briefly reviews knowledge of the systemic disease caused by Crassicauda boopis in blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus), fin whales (B. physalus) and humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). Infections with this giant nematode characteristically incite a chronic inflammatory reaction of the blood vessels which drain the kidneys. In this critical location, the parasite-induced lesion can cause complete vascular occlusion and kidney failure. Whale calves and juveniles typically suffer the heaviest parasite burdens following transplacental infection of the developing whale foetus. There is also probable whale-to-whale transmission post-partum, involving urinary contamination of the environment with C. boopis eggs and larvae. The frequency of the infection can exceed 95%. Haematological findings suggest that systemic pathological effects are typical at the population level. Gradual development of occlusive lesions in the renal veins appears to correlate with a major peak in natural mortality at about one year of age. To date, all findings support the conclusion that premature death caused by C. boopis infection is potentially a major impediment to population recovery of affected whale species. This suggests the interesting possibility of actively encouraging the population recovery of three species of large baleen whales. Such a restoration effort would entail remotely-deployed anthelminthic therapy administered, at sea, to infected whale cows and calves.
PMID: 1305859 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
And to cap it all off, a study on the health of people from the faroe's. They are after all big whale eaters.
The Faroe Islands are an autonomous province of Denmark. They have become more and more autonomous since after "World War II" in 1948, and are now dedicated to the premise of independence. Be that at it may, the Faroese people are unfortunately slaughtering whales. Perversely, it it now shown that the eating of the slaughtered whales—which are laden in mercury—is causing the people to literally become mentally retarded, and to be exterminating the Faroese people.
And now it is learned that the whale meat these residents are eating has been poisoning them with Mercury for generations. This is the sort of poisoning that leads to mental retardation in forming human fetus. They are actually taking their ownselves out of the game—by the process of devolution! In fact, two studies, this 20-year (1984-2004) Harvard study of 1,022 Faroe Islands mothers and children from 2004—including this letter from the the chief physician for The Faroese Hospital System stating the mercury found is "not from fish but specifically pilot whale", and this study released last year [PDF] at the International Conference on Foetal Programming and Developmental Toxicity (PPTOX), shows this to actually be the case! In fact, PBS aired this video report on the subject last year. By consuming Pilot Whales, residents of the Faroe Islands are systematically and routinely institutionalizing physical disability and mental retardation!
PETITION TO WARN THE JAPANESE PEOPLE OF MERCURY DANGER
To:
Policy Planning and Communication Division
The Department of Food Safety Bureau
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
Tokyo, Japan
CORRECTED E-Mail: [email]syokucommunication@mhlw.go.jp[/email]
Fax: +81-3-3503-7965
Dear Minister of Health:
There is worldwide concern that mercury accumulated in the human body may pose a serious health risk, especially to pregnant women and children.
As you know, dolphin meat from drive hunts in Taiji, Wakayama prefecture, proved to be highly contaminated with toxic chemicals such as mercury, methyl mercury and PCBs. Repeated chemical analyses have shown that the level of mercury in dolphin meat is much higher than the maximum allowable level set by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan.
We understand that the role of the Department of Food Safety Bureau is to promote food safety, thereby ensuring the health of the Japanese people. We urgently request the following:
1. Prohibit the sale of dolphin meat that contains mercury exceeding the maximum allowable level set by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW). The sale of food items with toxic agricultural chemicals exceeding the maximum allowable level set by MHLW is already prohibited as a result of the “Positive-list System,†which was adopted in 2006. Since mercury is as harmful to the human body as toxic agricultural chemicals, the “Positive-list System†should also apply to mercury.
2. Until the above request is put into effect, consumers must be warned of the dangers associated with consuming mercury contaminated dolphin meat, in much the same way they are being warned of the health risks associated with smoking cigarettes: Every store that sells dolphin meat must be obligated to post a prominent warning label on each meat package, stating as follows: "This food item possibly contains mercury exceeding the maximum allowable level set by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Mercury accumulated in the human body may harm your health.â€
Sincerely,
Name & address: ____________________
Is Eating Whale Meat Linked To Parkinson's Disease?
On the 5 August 2008 KNR news reported that 'Pilot whale meat inceases risk of Parkinson’s disease'The report went on to say that 'Pilot whale [meat] is suspected as a reason why Faroese have twice as much risk of getting Parkinson’s than Danes
Until now researchers have been unable to explain the higher occurrence of this serious disease in the Faroese.
“ But results indicate that diet could play a role in the higher occurrence of Parkinson’s syndrom” explains Pal Weihe who is head of Arbejdsmedicin and Folkesunhedmedicin section in the Faroese hospital. In addition he further explained that an increased intake of whale meat and blubber in adults is clearly linked with an increased occurrence of Parkinson’s disease.
The new research which was undertaken by the Environmental Medicine section of Syddansk University shows that environmental toxins such as methyl mercury and PCB make eating pilot whale meat risky.'
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