Mystery of fish mercury levels solved - Hawaii News

Hawaii researchers have solved the puzzle of why different species of fish in the ocean have different levels of mercury, even though they are the same size.

[empty skull]

Sounds like the study needs to go even deeper to see WHERE the source of all this mercury is.

The fish are getting mercury because the foods they eat have mercury.

Okay, so where are the foods getting the mercury?

They cannot dismiss pollution yet, that is premature.

Maybe the pollution is deep in the ocean (illegal dumping) and that is why the deep ocean predators and animals have higher levels.

[empty skull]

Someone also needs to try and see if they can compare mercury levels in fish caught today, vs. fish caught many years ago.

Are the mercury levels the same or different?

That would be very interesting to see.

[Fisherman]

I see where the one dimensional 'food chain' is now the two dimensional 'food web'.
That may be a more accurate analogy.
Why not use a three dimensional model(or 4 or 5) and add in quantum physics?
(I must be getting old, not adapting to changes as good as I used to!)
Is the center of the web the top?
Must be all the mercury.

[Good News]

Anela Choy, Brian Popp, Jeff Drazen, and John Kaneko. You are all brilliant scientists. Supersleuths extraordinaire! Now we have a better understanding how mercury poisoning may NOT be a man-made phenomenon. Your finding will be read all over the world. Good job!

[MEAD]

This is very interesting because I always thought the mercury content in fish were the cause of human pollution.

[candy]

i thought the increased mercury levels were caused by burning coal. anyways the benefits of eating fish out way the negatives. We need omega 3 for our heart and cardio vascular system and they also help keep our hormones balanced.

[couplewords]

Great study! Hawaii has so much to offer the rest of the planet with its diversity and unique geographical position! So much research can be done that can't be elsewhere.

[Quicksilver]

Videos of mercury poisoning.

http://video.google.com/videosearch... #

[Changy]

Wow ... instead of wasting all this money they should have asked the old time fishermen. They would have given the same answer. Young people, use your resources, learn your cultural history. There's a lot that you will never learn in school.

[local]

All this "don't-eat-fish-because-o f-mercury" is all shibai and hyped up by the pro-vegans and anti-fishing environmetal movements fed to the public via mass media campaigns. The entire western civilization was deprived of the health benefits of fish for decades because of the ski-is-falling mercury scare imposed by these wanton lamebrained idiots. True science is beautiful but too bad science cannot discover how to inject common sense into the brains of these anti's. Wait and see when the FDA comes out with the new fish consumption guidlines... wait and see...

[CMK]

Nobody ever got sick from mercury poisoning from eating fish. Minamata happened because of the dumping of industrial waste into streams feeding Minamata bay and the pollution of people's food sources by industry.

I hope the people that continue to perpetuate this myth about mercury in fish are sued for the harm they are causing to our children. Omega 3's are essential for the proper development of children's brains. In the coming decades we will see how effective this campaign to denigrate fish as food is when these kids develop into leaders and citizens.

[Big Buggah]

local wrote:

All this "don't-eat-fish-because-o f-mercury" is all shibai and hyped up by the pro-vegans and anti-fishing environmetal movements fed to the public via mass media campaigns. The entire western civilization was deprived of the health benefits of fish for decades because of the ski-is-falling mercury scare imposed by these wanton lamebrained idiots. True science is beautiful but too bad science cannot discover how to inject common sense into the brains of these anti's. Wait and see when the FDA comes out with the new fish consumption guidlines... wait and see...

Neat! Go eat lots poke fish, brah!

[DaMenace]

The binding of mercury by selenium might be a clue how to mitigate intake though food. Would supplementing selenium help people who eat fish?

[karen ashley]

Fascinating when you study minimata disease as it occurred in Japan in the early seventies. When I stopped eating fish my health got dramatically better.

[PhD]

Who cares about mercury levels in fish, they're so so so small and how many ppm (parts per millions) they have close to nothing before considering to be toxic and harmful to the body, we all go #1 & #2 how else to we rid of our waste. How many of us that have dental (silver) amalgam fillings which leach mercury into the mouth, think about it were living with it 24hrs a day. Give me a break, fish haters, vegan enviromentalist get a life!

[Merc]

empty skull wrote:

Someone also needs to try and see if they can compare mercury levels in fish caught today, vs. fish caught many years ago.
Are the mercury levels the same or different?
That would be very interesting to see.

From the article:

"Studies done in 1971 and again in 1998 on the amount of mercury in Hawaii yellowfin tuna showed no differences despite a 26 percent increase in atmospheric mercury emissions, he said."

That's why they're suggesting that there's no evidence that atmospheric mercury is the source.

[Merc]

DaMenace wrote:

The binding of mercury by selenium might be a clue how to mitigate intake though food. Would supplementing selenium help people who eat fish?

I had the exact same thought.
http://www.mercuryfacts.org/fselenium.cfm

One interesting item in the article above - many of the best sources for naturally occurring selenium are fish! So I guess you gotta pick and choose carefully, and avoid the high-mercury fish, or it would be self-defeating.

Another article:
http://www.naturalnews.com/026729_selenium_me...

Note that selenium can be harmful or even toxic in large amounts, so be careful. Still, this has piqued my interest. I've long worried about my own mercury levels. In fact, just got a flu shot yesterday with thimesoral in it.

[PRINCEOFWAIKIKI]

So eating whale meat-blubber,may be a no no, not to good for your Health!!!Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[Charley The Tuna]

I wonder if I'm good enough for Starkist now?

[Charley The Tuna]

Hey and while I'm thinking of it, I wish Starkist would bring back the Charley The Tuna commercials,even if briefly. America needs a laugh and I need the work.