Taiji Residents - Town In "The Cove" - Test High For Mercury, Though Not @ Toxic Levels

[hatrack]

AIJI, Japan — Residents of the dolphin-hunting village depicted in Oscar documentary "The Cove" have dangerously high mercury levels, likely because of their fondness for dolphin and whale meat, a government lab said Sunday.

The levels of mercury detected in Taiji residents were above the national average, but follow-up tests have found no ill effects, according to the National Institute for Minamata Disease. The tests were done on hair samples from 1,137 volunteers of the town's roughly 3,500 residents. "The results suggest there is a connection between hair mercury levels and eating cetaceans," Director Koji Okamoto told reporters at town hall.

Mercury accumulates up the food chain, so large predators such as dolphins, tuna and swordfish tend to have the highest levels. The latest studies published by the Japanese government show that meat from bottlenose dolphins had about 1,000 times the mercury content of that from sardines.

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Individuals with the highest levels were advised to cut back on large fish and sea mammals. Although it can damage the nervous system permanently, mercury naturally fades from the body over time, halving about every 70 days. A person could flush most of it from their system by completely cutting it out for a year. At lunch after the town hall meeting, council chief Katsutoshi Mihara rejoiced as he carefully dipped raw slices of a striped dolphin into soy sauce. "This may seem nonchalant, but I have absolutely no concerns, and I want to be able keep my lifestyle," he said.

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Ed. - emphasis added. Sound familiar.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/6996982.html

[kristopher]

1. Karma can be a bitch...