Mercury in the dinner table… a fish story

We know that eating fish is very healthy due to the fact that it has Omega 3 fatty acids (cold water fish's insulating fat) that reduces heart disease, help lift depression, ease the pain in joint inflammation and promotes weight loss, but when the tall stacks of that proposed power plants begin to puke out and contaminate the air then we will start to say goodbye to all that healthy fish diet. Fish becomes tainted with all the pollutions that are near the waterways of waste facilities, incinerators and power plants that releases mercury in the air which will eventually settle in the nearby waters. (USDFA/EPA) Once mercury enters that food chain expect its hidden effects in humans.

A medical practitioner in San Francisco, California noticed that some of her patients complained of some strange symptoms like hair loss, fatigue and some mood changes. All were referred to nearby specialist and have jumped from one doctor to another, there were findings of chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis and other disease entities. With all the findings ending up in a big question mark and a blank wall it seems that no one had figured out what was wrong with this group of patients. To the amazement of the good doctor she found out that there was a common denominator among this patients, they all eat a lot of fish everyday. She suspected that there was a contaminant in the fish that was causing the said symptoms. Her hunch had proven to be true when 113 of her patients tested positive for mercury in their blood higher than the recommended limit of 5 micrograms per liter of blood. (89 percent tested were higher than the National Academy of Science's recommended limit). In an article of the NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine, November 2002) a study of 1,400 men with highest mercury levels in their blood had double the risk of heart attack compared with those with the lowest levels. What the good doctor had found out was that this was a group of toxic symptoms caused by great exposure levels to mercury. (fish on a plate).

As laymen we never understand how this chemicals come to our dining tables. Contaminants and pollutants from power plants and waste facilities either from polluted waterways or from exhaust coming from smoke stacks that will eventually end up in bodies of water. The chemicals are then absorbed by the small bacteria and will finally be ingested by fishes. There is no way that this mercury can be easily eliminated by fish or humans, thus mercury contamination increases in its concentration as it travels upward on the food chain.

Effects of mercury poisoning bring about the biggest threat and effects on little children, small and unborn infants. Tuna contaminated with mercury can be consumed by children from sandwiches that they ate, infants especially those nursing will get the chemicals through mother's milk and blood if they are still inside their mother's womb. Symptoms of mercury poisoning in children are manifested by brain and nerve damage. In adults, mercury lowers the body's immune defenses, impairs reproduction and will eventually increase the risk of heart disease. Omega-3 is very important for the baby's brain development and for the mother it prevents postpartum depression.

The type of fish will also determine the mercury levels if it is high, medium, low or lowest. (Source-Purdue University) A high mercury level can be seen in fishes like the golden bass, golden snapper, shark, and king mackerel. (How much you can safely eat--NONE) Medium levels of mercury can be found in fishes like tuna steak, red snapper, orange roughy, Pollack, halibut, northern lobster, marlin, moon fish, saltwater bass, wild trout, bluefish, grouper, croaker and sablefish. (How much you can safely eat—1 meal per month) Low levels of mercury can be found in canned tuna, crab, cod, mahi-mahi, haddock, whitefish, herring and spiny lobster. (How much you can safely eat--1 meal per week) The lowest levels can be seen in this group of fishes like salmon, oyster, shrimp, farm-raised channel catfish, farm-raised rainbow trout, flounder, sole, perch, tilapia, clams, scallops, red swamp crayfish. (How much you can safely eat--more than 1 meal per week, if pregnant or nursing limit to 12 ounces per week)

How can mercury get to your dinner table? It is man-made pollutions that increased the amount of mercury in the fish that we all consumed thus will show signs of toxic symptoms when levels are above the accepted levels. Coal-fired power plants release mercury in the atmosphere, then from the surrounding environment it is consumed by micro-organisms thus mercury will move up the food chain toward the ocean. From the top of the chain is the large predatory fish (1 part per million) of the ocean then to the small water saltwater fish (cod and tuna at .17 and .60 ppm), shellfish (lobster leading the FDA list at .31 ppm) and finally to the fresh water fish (mercury levels varies according in its concentration in water)

Thinking about the goodness that fish will give and bring to our health and body, but we have to think again with the proposed construction of coal-fired power plants in our community gone will be the days of eating a healthy fish diet, we may not die from a heart disease, but surely the deadly effects of mercury will soon get us.