Contaminated Seafood

[renclenque]

I'm interested to see how many people are familiar with methylmercury in seafood throughout the world. Does anyone know my reference here? Also are there any public advisories in Japan on intake amounts like they have in the US, especially after the Minamata poisoning? If there is an awareness about mercury contamination, does Japan have any other advisories about PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), etc? In the US, we have freshwater and saltwater advisories for all bodies of water and what amount is safe for consumption.

Also, can anyone give me the general consensus on how Japanese feel about fish farms since they seem to propagate diseases?

In the US, public awareness is scarce on these issues.

[renclenque]

My questions were too loaded, huh?

[DocTurtle]

I think it might just be more of a no one knows factor?

[P_chan]

I thought some fish had mercury in them naturally? But, I'm not sure, so I could be wrong.

[Muku]

I'm interested to see how many people are familiar with methylmercury in seafood throughout the world. Does anyone know my reference here? Also are there any public advisories in Japan on intake amounts like they have in the US, especially after the Minamata poisoning? If there is an awareness about mercury contamination, does Japan have any other advisories about PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), etc? In the US, we have freshwater and saltwater advisories for all bodies of water and what amount is safe for consumption.

Also, can anyone give me the general consensus on how Japanese feel about fish farms since they seem to propagate diseases?

In the US, public awareness is scarce on these issues.

I left it go because of the following...

Minamata poisoning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamata_disease)
That was back in 1968, and since then there have been huge changes in testing and keeping track of poisons in the food system.

[TheNoNamedOne]

I'm interested to see how many people are familiar with methylmercury in seafood throughout the world. Does anyone know my reference here? Also are there any public advisories in Japan on intake amounts like they have in the US, especially after the Minamata poisoning? If there is an awareness about mercury contamination, does Japan have any other advisories about PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), etc? In the US, we have freshwater and saltwater advisories for all bodies of water and what amount is safe for consumption.

I wouldn't be so quick (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/chi-mercury-3-story,0,4192281.story) to trust the advisories in the U.S. The USDA is more concerned about protecting and promoting the food industries rather than protecting the public from the dangers that exist.

In one of the nation's most comprehensive studies of mercury in commercial fish, testing by the newspaper showed that a variety of popular seafood was so tainted that federal regulators could confiscate the fish for violating food safety rules.

The testing also showed that mercury is more pervasive in fish than what the government has told the public, making it difficult for consumers to avoid the problem, no matter where they shop. ...

The Tribune's investigation reveals a decades-long pattern of the U.S. government knowingly allowing millions of Americans to eat seafood with unsafe levels of mercury.

Regulators have repeatedly downplayed the hazards, failed to take basic steps to protect public health and misled consumers about the true dangers, documents and interviews show.

The government does not seize high-mercury fish that violate U.S. limits. Regulators do not even inspect seafood for mercury--not in ports, processing plants or supermarkets.

Also, can anyone give me the general consensus on how Japanese feel about fish farms since they seem to propagate diseases?

In the US, public awareness is scarce on these issues.

I think awareness in Japan is even more scarce, and the apathy sure is higher as it relates to mercury in fish. But the mercury here, too, is dangerous.

Mercury In Packaged Whale Meat Across Japan May Be A Major Health Problem (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/05/030520082803.htm)

Science Daily — Dangerous levels of mercury appear to be present in whale, dolphin and porpoise meat sold widely as food in Japan, according to a study by Japanese scientists. One U.S. researcher says the findings point to a "major health problem" in Japan.

The Japanese scientists bought samples from across the country, and found that every single slice of toothed whale red meat Japan's most popular whale product exceeded that country's provisional limit on mercury, with some samples containing almost 200 times the maximum value. ...

The levels of mercury measured by the scientists are similar to or higher than the levels in fish eaten by people in the Minamata Bay area of Japan, Endo says. ...

Nearly all fish contain trace amounts of mercury, but longer-lived predators like odontocetes, tuna and sharks are the final repositories for many pollutants because of their position at the top of the food chain.

Not looking good for you eaters of marine animal life.

[Muku]

Actually jsut because there isnt anything in English doesnt mean that the concerns are not there. :)

There has been quite a bit of information regarding the food supply here in Japan and not just about the rise in mercury in fish but an even larger problem with the food that has been imported from China.

Go to any grocery store and much of the frozen veggies and marine products along with produce as well came here from China. There have been cases of food poisoning in school lunches in mainland from a banned chemical found in the food that was imported. Unagi, eel, was also found to have other chemicals in them that were used to keep the fish healthy and grow faster. The chemicals that were found were all banned. There was a rather large expose on Japanese TV a couple of weeks ago about this topic, and the reporters went to China to investigate, the factories were closed down and the eel ponds gone.

There are some companies in China that bend over backwards to ensure that their food is healthy and safe for export. These massive companies, some with over 100,000 workers have health and safety standards that might make an operating room look clean.

Then there are other factories that allegedly used torn up cardboard boxes as part of the ingredients in some types of the popular nikuman that were imported into Japan. These allegations have not been proven 100%, but suspicions are high.

There are many people here that are concerned very much about the safety of food.

A number of large companies here in Japan, including Fujiya, which runs franchise bakeries and confectionary stands throughout the country, were forced to stop selling because it was found to have used expired milk products in their food. Another one that has now folded is a meat company in I think it was in Hokkaido for selling imported meat marked as domestic. The list goes on as well.

Yes there are concerns, and the government and private groups are working to ensure the safety of food coming to Japan.

[renclenque]

"I wouldn't be so quick to trust the advisories in the U.S. The USDA is more concerned about protecting and promoting the food industries rather than protecting the public from the dangers that exist."

The above is an assumption made on your part from my statements. I do not trust the advisories in the US. Just stating they exist and I personally use them more as liberal guidelines. From the research I conducted in the States, the USDA is not doing their part to protect the public from the dangers that exist. I was just concerned and curious about awareness in Japan.

[Muku]

"[B] I do not trust the advisories in the US. Just stating they exist and I personally use them more as liberal guidelines. From the research I conducted in the States, the USDA is not doing their part to protect the public from the dangers that exist. I was just concerned and curious about awareness in Japan.
However whether one trusts the advisories or not, it does help to raise awareness that a certain product mak have problems.

From that point, Japan lacks the awareness of product safety in comparison to the USA.

[renclenque]

http://www.fsc.go.jp/english/topics/methylmercury.html

Info on Japan's take of mercury issues!

[TheNoNamedOne]

Wow. Long document there, Renclenque. Do you think that in order to begin discussing it you would/could pick out a few salient parts that you think are there to support what you want to say about the issue?

I mean like, what if a Christian wanted to discuss God and then just put a link to the whole Bible as a PDF document and say, "Info on Christians' take of the God issue"?

[pardus]

There have been widespread warnings in the US to pregnant women about avoiding salmon because of the mercury content. There's also a certain sentiment of "the Japanese people and/or govt. don't seem to care that they are consuming mercury-laden food!" that I've noticed here.

Along with a distrust of any food coming from China, in the US, and in the Korean papers, and I guess in Japan as well from what I see here?

[P_chan]

So what else are they going to try and scare me with next? Is the boogy man going to come out from under my bed and try to molest me or something?