Toxic whale, dolphin meat

This video says about itself:

Mercury Poisoning in Whale Meat, Seal Meat, Fish – Japanese Minamata Incident

21 August 2009

Whale Meat, Seal Meat, and Seafood contain huge doses of Methyl Mercury – a neurotoxin. Eating Whale meat, Seal Meat, & Fish contaminated with Methyl or Organic elemental Mercury causes brain damage, mental retardation, tremors, and brain tissue damage. Most people are aware of health officials’ warnings about fish; however, thousands are unaware that the dosages contained in Whale Meat and Seal Meat is from 10x to 9,000x the dose in fish. Thousands of times above the human limit.

Even worse, some are unaware that eating whale meat, seal meat, and seafood can cause damage to their genitals, cause their future children to be born deformed, or result in their child being born learning disabled. Even 1 ingestion of this material has been shown to cause human damage.

The horrible effects of Mercury Poisoning from eating sea food was exemplified by the Minamata disaster in Japan, where Japanese ingested fish contaminated with the substance. Recall that the levels contained in Seal meat in Canada, and Whale Meat obtained by Japanese whalers are 10 to thousands of times the levels in fish. By the time a human ingests the whale meat or seal meat, the seal or whale has ingested thousands upon thousands of fish, and builds up using a process known as Bio-Accumulation. Japanese, Inuit, Norwegians, and Faroese who have ingested whale and seal meat are now so contaminated, that their tissue samples can be classified as hazardous waste.

Chronic metal toxicity is a concern in the Canadian Arctic. The findings of high metal levels in wildlife, marine mammals, and the fact that these are used as traditional food by Newfoundlanders and Natives constitutes a major threat to human health. We examined exposure to trace metals through traditional food resources for Inuit living in the eastern Arctic. Mercury, cadmium, and lead were found in local food resources as normally prepared and then eaten. Elevated concentrations of mercury ( ~ 50 micrograms/100 g) were found in seal liver, narwhal mattak, whale meat, and beluga mattak, and relatively high concentrations of cadmium and lead ( ~ 100 micrograms/100 g) were found in seal meat.

Any person supporting the Seal hunt is hurting Inuit, and Canadian citizens who ingest seal flipper or any type of seal meat, or omega3 seal oil product.

Any person supporting Japanese whalers is hurting Japan, hurting Japanese citizens, families, and children.

From Wildlife Extra:

Dangers of mercury in whale meat highlighted by new treaty

New mercury treaty to flag threats to human health of toxic whale & dolphin meat

October 2013. As the world’s first legally binding international treaty to curb the release of mercury into the environment has been signed, a coalition of NGOs urged countries to take immediate steps to address communities at particular risk of contamination from the consumption of whale and dolphin products.

Mercury contaminated meat

“For far too long, coastal communities around the world have been allowed to consume the mercury-contaminated meat of whales, dolphins and porpoises, many in ignorance of the risks involved,” said Clare Perry, Senior Campaigner at the UK-and US-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

“Now signatories to the new treaty must make communities in places as far afield as Japan and the Faroe Islands properly aware of the very serious risks to human health that come from eating the meat of toothed cetaceans.”

Minamata Convention on Mercury

The Minamata Convention on Mercury was adopted at the Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Minamata and Kumamoto, Japan. The choice of venue is significant as Minamata was the scene of the world’s worst-ever incident of mass mercury poisoning. The outbreak began in 1956 after methylmercury, discharged into the sea from a Chisso Corporation factory, accumulated in fish and shellfish and found its way into the human food chain.

Symptoms of mercury poisoning

Symptoms of mercury poisoning can include loss of muscular coordination, numbness in extremities, damage to hearing and speech, damage to foetal development, paralysis and death.

Dolphin meat in Japan

Dolphin meat sold for consumption in Japan has been found to have mercury levels as high as 98.9 parts per million, some 250 times higher than the Government regulatory level and higher than levels commonly found in the fish that caused Minamata disease.

“Governments have long been well aware of the dangers to human health that come from eating whale and dolphin meat contaminated with mercury and other pollutants, but in some cases they have been neglectfully reticent when it comes to properly protecting their citizens from the risks,” said Sakae Hemmi, of Japanese NGO Elsa Nature Conservancy.

Faroes pilot whales

Based on more than 20 years of medical studies in the Faroe Islands, scientists now advise that the meat of pilot whales killed there is no longer suitable for consumption – but Government recommendations have failed to follow such advice. In 2012, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) passed a consensus resolution noting such concerns and urging governments to take action.

1,300 pilot whales and dolphins killed in the Faroe Islands in 2013

Birgith Sloth, of the Society for the Conservation of Marine Mammals in Denmark, added: “Increasing awareness of the scientific advice has led to many in the Faroes rejecting pilot whale meat. Despite this, more than 1,300 pilot whales and white-sided dolphins have been killed in the Faroe Islands in 2013, suggesting that some people are consuming huge amounts of whale and dolphin meat. The Faroese Government needs to follow the advice of its own scientists and enforce a strict ban on consuming toxic whale meat”.

Related articles

• Mercury treaty to flag threat of toxic whale and dolphin meat (economicvoice.com)
• Japan Dolphins Day 2013 (eleventhbeatnik.wordpress.com)
• Minamata mercury treaty signed at UN conference (rappler.com)