Fish often has amounts of mercury harmful for pregnant women

[Eric J in MN]

At MoveLeft Media, at moveleft.com, I discuss a NY Times article on fish having mercury levels harmful for pregnant women and for children.

I encourage people to eat less fish and to visit Vegsource.com for vegetarian recipes.

I also ask people to vote for John Kerry, since he has a better environmental record than Bush.

http://www.moveleft.com/moveleft_essay_2004_08_05_fish_often_has_mercury_in_amounts_harmful.asp

http://moveleft.com

[Massacure]

1. PUNT!!!

[Eric J in MN]

2. kick

kick

[Eric J in MN]

3. kick

kick

[msanthrope]

4. This really bummed me out when I was pregnant......

I craved fresh tuna.

Salmon, however, made me puke.

[Eric J in MN]

8. did you avoid all fish while you were pregnant? nt

nt

[msanthrope]

10. No, I didn't....

I did quite a bit of research on mercury in fish and I made sure that to be safe I limited the amount of fish that I ate, but I didn't give it up.

My midwife backed me on this decision. Shockingly to some, I ate sushi, but avoided non-pasturized foods (certain soft cheeses), and lunch meats and hot dogs, mainly to avoid listeria. I cooked my meat to well, as opposed to rare.

I had a flu shot, with preservative (non-preservative flu shots were not available, and with my history of asthma, the flu shot was highly recommended.)

I changed the cat litter. (With gloves.)

I even drank coffee. (About a cup a day.)

My DD was born a robust 9/5, with no complications or health problems.

Her vaccines are w/o preservatives, and I encourage parents to use pediatricians who only use the ones w/o preservatives.

[DrWeird]

5. an average fish contains as much mercury as a rectal thermometer

Would you eat a rectal thermometer?

Well, I would.

Mmm, mercury. Sweetest of the transition metals.

[democratreformed]

6. Funny, this issue was on my local news this morning

Seems several of our "fishing holes" here in Arkansas have "higher than normal/average (?)" levels this year. They had a guy from my hometown talking about catching fish and putting them back b/c those fish aren't getting anywhere near "his granchildrens'" mouths. He was at Greers Ferry Lake.

[fishface]

7. I agree...less fish!!

for obvious reasons... O8)

[Bandit]

9. This is just plain BS

All you have to do is look toward any Asian or Polynesian country and check out their health. They eat predominately fish and vegetables and live longer and look younger for their age than any other group of people. They have no problem with pregnant women or newborn babies being less healthy. This is mainly put out by the beef industry and is just not factual.

[Nadienne]

12. I don't think so.

Perhaps Asia doesn't have as many coal-burning energy plants that cause the mercury problem.

[Shakespeare]

14. The real problem is "farm"-raised fish.

The label will say "atlantic salmon," but it's usually farm-raised garbage from South America, and is full of heavy metals and other toxins. Always try to buy salmon clearly labeled "wild-caught Alaskan." Tastes better, too.

The wild-caught salmon isn't completely toxin-free, but it's a helluva lot better than the farm-raised stuff.

[rbnyc]

11. I heard on the radio...

...that 90% of women have enough mercury in them to take 5-7 IQ points off their children. There has been a big increase since Shrub took office and dropped the lawsuits Clinton had filed against the biggest illegal polluters.

:grr:

[Eric J in MN]

13. Good point (nt)

nt

[depakid]

15. It's a problem even here in the Northwest

which you'd ordinarily expect to be clean, comparatively speaking:

High mercury risk in fish raises alarm
'Problem a lot more widespread than we realized'.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/184782_fish04.html?searchpagefrom=1&searchdiff=2

Excerpts:

Mercury is turning up in fish in Washington state's remote lakes and reservoirs at levels that could be harmful to women and children, and more than half the fish tested nationwide also are contaminated....

<snip>

Nearly 30 percent of the fish tested in Washington by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency exceeded EPA's mercury-exposure limit for women of childbearing age, according to the coalition's analysis of the federal data. The highest levels were found in bottom-dwelling, long-lived fish, such as largescale suckers and mountain whitefish. Nationally, more than half of the fish samples were contaminated above safety limits for women of childbearing age, and more than three-quarters exceeded limits for children under 3 who eat fish twice a week. About 2,500 fish were collected from 260 bodies of water.

<snip>

Texas power plants produce the most mercury, churning out 9,840 pounds in 2002, followed by Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to the coalition's report. In Washington, which ranks 39th nationally, the TransAlta Centralia Generation/Mining coal-powered power plant is the single-biggest source of mercury pollution. The state's only coal-fired plant, it released about 265 pounds of the metal into the air in 2002, according to federal records.

[Eric J in MN]

16. Thanks for sharing the information about Washington State (nt)

nt

[SmileyBoy]

17. One of the many reasons why I don't eat fish.

1) Mercury and Dioxin contamination

2) Bacterial contamination

3) I just can't stand the taste of it or the feel of it in my mouth

4) A lot of fish smell bad even when fresh

Just personal reasons, mind you.

[Stuckinthebush]

18. Fish does help with increasing HDL

I have such low HDL (which is a high risk factor for heart disease) that my physician recommends fish at least once per week if not more. Aside from that, my wife has us on a vegan diet that helps as well.

Yes there are negatives associated with fish, but there are also positives. Of course, there is always the fish oil supplement avenue.