Jeremy Piven suffering from mercury poisoning

[TZ]

As Jeremy Piven leaves Broadway due to his high mercury count, people are wondering just what exactly that means.

It means you've been poisoned. Or you've poisoned yourself.

According to the FDA, it's not too hard to avoid a high mercury count:

FDA scientists responsible for seafood safety are also concerned about the safety of the eating these types of fish, but they agree that the fish are safe, provided they are eaten infrequently (no more than once a week) as part of a balanced diet.
Well, in Piven's case, the high mercury count could have come from frequently eating sushi twice a day:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/18/high-mercury-count-how-it_n_152167.html

I've always thought the anti-thimerosol woo brigade was totally missing the fact that fish have MUCH higher concentrations of mercury than any vaccine could ever have.
What makes this article even MORE interesting to me is this little nugget...
"He notes that Jeremy has also taken certain Chinese herbs, and that, in combination with the frequent sushi consumption, could have led to these elevated mercury levels."
Oh noes! The miraculous cure all herbs could cause mercury toxicity? Who knew? (well scientists but what do those silly people know)

[moggie]

1. Has he caught the autism yet? n/t

[trotsky]

2. That's "teh" autism, you big yak shill. n/t

[moggie]

3. I am aware of all Internet traditions n/t

[semillama]

4. Even Robocop and Unicorns? n/t

[lightningandsnow]

14. Can you catch that just like you catch the ghey?

[lizerdbits]

5. Maybe he needs to think positively.

Or use Kinoki foot pads.

[fadedrose]

6. Stephanie Miller

I used to listen to the Stephanie Miller Show, and last year some time she was sick off and on, mostly fatigue but I can't remember the other symptoms. Anyway, after no luck finding the problem in most common ailments, I'm pretty sure that her doctor determined she had mercury poisoning.

I don't know how she is now... but it must not be as rare as thought.

[LeftishBrit]

7. Hope he'll be OK

I know pregnant women in Britain are advised to limit their fish consumption because of the mercury so it's definitely an issue.

On a more flippant note, has anyone else encountered the 'Ruthless Rhyme' from (I think) the early 20th century:

Little Willie from his mirror
Sucked the mercury right off,
Thinking in his childhood error
It would cure the whooping cough.
At the funeral, Willie's mother
Brightly said to Mrs. Brown,
"Twas a chilly day for Willie
When the mercury went down!"

(I'm surprised no one's posted that on the Health Forum yet!)

[nickgutierrez]

8. This is clearly a Big Pharma conspiracy.

Big Pharma put mercury in those Chinese herbs, to poison Jeremy Piven, so that they could push their mercury-filled vaccines on our kids.

:sarcasm:

[Deep13]

9. He's been snacking on thermometers. nt

[varkam]

10. That sounds like a nasty habit.

They don't sound very tasty.

[moggie]

11. Particularly if they're not the oral kind

[varkam]

12. Zing!

:rofl:

[conscious evolution]

15. LOL!

[cosmik debris]

16. The only difference between the oral thermometer

And the rectal thermometer is the taste.

[JackRiddler]

13. Is this really grounds for schadenfreude?

Eating a lot of sushi shouldn't do this to you.

In other words, it's very fucked up that we've poisoned the world to this extent -- that eating a lot of salmon entails the near-certainty of mercury poisoning. And this story isn't really occasion to make fun of Piven for liking fish too much, or for hitting on a bad combination of otherwise harmless foods, or for bringing up irrelevant tangents that make you feel smug. His fate is a symptomatic of a global tragedy.