Whalemeat in Japanese school lunches found toxic

This is a video of short-finned pilot whales near Tenerife.

Reuters reports:

TOKYO Whalemeat served in school lunches in an area of rural Japan are contaminated with alarming levels of mercury, a local assemblyman said on Wednesday, calling for a halt in plans for the meat to be shipped to schools nationwide.

Hisato Ryono, a assemblyman in Taiji, a historic whaling town some 450 km (280 miles) west of Tokyo, said two samples of short-finned pilot whale had mercury levels 10 to 16 times more than advised by the Health Ministry.

The samples, bought from two local supermarkets, also had 10-12 times more methyl mercury than advised levels, he said.

Ryono and a fellow assemblyman conducted tests after local authorities ignored their calls to have the whalemeat inspected before it was served in school lunches in the town’s kindergartens and elementary and junior high schools.

“We were shocked that it continued to be served in school lunches,” Ryono told Reuters by phone.

Men, women, and the environment: here.

Australian protest against Japanese whaling, see here.

Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto against whaling: here.

Humpback whaling: here.

A newly published book about Minamata disease has revealed, possibly for the first time to Canadians, that former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau personally interfered with the publication of one or more studies concerning the mercury problem at Grassy Narrows. “Niigata Minimata Disease: Methyl Mercury Poisoning in Niigata, Japan” was authored by Dr. Saito Hisashi, a general practitioner who has worked with Minamata patients ever since the disease was discovered in Niigata, Japan, in 1965. The book was first published in 1996, but only now has it been translated to English: here.