The New York Times Green blog reports that toxic mercury is a potentially dangerous health risk for fish eaters.
Specifically, mercury levels in salt water fish are higher and therefore more toxic than in fresh water fish.
It has long been known that mercury levels in seafood can prove poisonous to humans. Methylmercury, an especially toxic form of mercury, can lead to kidney dysfunction and neurological disorders. Pregnant women in particular are told to be careful because dietary exposure to methylmercury can lead to birth defects in infants.
Now a new study suggests that humans need to be more wary of saltwater fish like tuna, mackerel and sharks than of freshwater fish. Although seawater has lower concentrations of mercury than freshwater, mercury in seawater is more likely to stay in its toxic form, researchers report in a recent issue of Nature Geoscience.
Someone at the Ministry of Truth needs to have their arse kicked for letting this version of history leak out. Ever since green activism persuaded government dunderheads across the western world to mandate the death of incandescent light bulbs, greens have had to pretend that the toxic mercury in every compact fluorescent lamp is no problem.
Its a classic case of green tech creating a problem where there was no problem in the effort to address a global crisis that exists only in activist heads.
More on the green mercury conundrum here.
Round-Up tomorrow.
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Welcome back/
BTW, there are some potential Global Warming Hotties in the poll over at my place. It’s a hard job, but…
Welcome back/
BTW, there are some potential Global Warming Hotties in the poll over at my place. It’s a hard job, but…
Does oil wash mercury out of the water? We have contained the Gulf oil spill to the the Gulf so that should be mercury free.
Does oil wash mercury out of the water? We have contained the Gulf oil spill to the the Gulf so that should be mercury free.
Mercury in fish? Big problem.
Mercury in CFL bulbs? No problem.
Why? Simple: we don’t eat lightbulbs.
But its not that simple.
We don’t break fish on our carpets, leading us to the EPA’s two-page broken CFL mercury toxic clean-up advice.
Thanks greens for making every household install toxic mercury bombs for light bulbs. Geniuses.
Mercury in fish? Big problem.
Mercury in CFL bulbs? No problem.
Why? Simple: we don’t eat lightbulbs.
But its not that simple.
We don’t break fish on our carpets, leading us to the EPA’s two-page broken CFL mercury toxic clean-up advice.
Thanks greens for making every household install toxic mercury bombs for light bulbs. Geniuses.
ZZMike. Small amounts of mercury in batteries = huge problems! Large amounts of mercury in environment friendly CFC bulbs = superduper!
Also the environment friendly mercury bulbs save small amounts of toxic electricity, which is great! It’s also great if we charge cars with at least 100s of times more electricity than the bulbs saves, because that is environment friendly cars (no matter electricity is fossil).
This is pure logic of today. The science is settled through a consensus which is presented in a peered paper where they asked if Earth has got warmer the last 100 years. Of course the positive answer from 97 percent of the scientists on that question, and on the second question (about if CO2 is a greenhouse gas) means that these scientists says that we’re heading towards a catastrophy. This is hyper modern (almost progressive (no, not just almost)) consensus science at any cost — no old-fashioned Popper falsification anymore.
Br, Magnus A — extra unofficial spoke person for EPA
ZZMike. Small amounts of mercury in batteries = huge problems! Large amounts of mercury in environment friendly CFC bulbs = superduper!
Also the environment friendly mercury bulbs save small amounts of toxic electricity, which is great! It’s also great if we charge cars with at least 100s of times more electricity than the bulbs saves, because that is environment friendly cars (no matter electricity is fossil).
This is pure logic of today. The science is settled through a consensus which is presented in a peered paper where they asked if Earth has got warmer the last 100 years. Of course the positive answer from 97 percent of the scientists on that question, and on the second question (about if CO2 is a greenhouse gas) means that these scientists says that we’re heading towards a catastrophy. This is hyper modern (almost progressive (no, not just almost)) consensus science at any cost — no old-fashioned Popper falsification anymore.
Br, Magnus A — extra unofficial spoke person for EPA
(Btw, I’m don’t know the amount of mercury in toxic batteries vs. the amount of mercury in environment friendly light bulbs, so my words “small” and “large” (amount) may be wrong…)
Magnus, official EPA tractor
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPA-traktor
(Btw, I’m don’t know the amount of mercury in toxic batteries vs. the amount of mercury in environment friendly light bulbs, so my words “small” and “large” (amount) may be wrong…)
Magnus, official EPA tractor
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPA-traktor
Hey! (Im back and posting) Re: Mercury in fish…there is a difference between environmental contamination of fish a la Minamata Bay (which was truly horrible) and natural mercury due to deep water cinnabar deposits that concentrate up the food chain. So fish from certain places and certain species have higher natural mercury content. Studies into the Faroese, who eat about half a whale (a top predator) at a sitting, complete with lovely blubber for concentrating heavy metals, showed that there was a possibly very (and I mean VERY) slight statistical drop of one basis point or something in childrens development. Later studies showed this to be imperceptible by the age of 14, and as far as I know they didn’t control for things like marrying your cousin. Another very large study from the Seychelles into the mercury content of fish actually showed a positive correlation between mercury content and better than average developmental intelligence in children, presumably due to increased fish consumption being good for your brain. In short, unless youre eating a cat-fish caught from the waste water tank of a light bulb factory, the benefits of eating seafood far outweigh the risk of a bit of natural mercury. In Australia, being a nation of practical people who fire Prime Minister’s we don’t like and replace them with red headed Welsh women who don’t believe in God (ie Not California), our food regulator recommends that pregnant women continue to eat seafood in pregnancy due to the health benefits, and just try and avoid some of the types of fish that are known to have high natural mercury.
References can be supplied.
Cheers,
Paua.
Welcome back, and thanks for the information. It makes sense that the health benefits of eating fish outweigh any small risk of contamination, but that won’t get studies funded and even bad scientists have to eat. Possibly not fish though.
Hey! (Im back and posting) Re: Mercury in fish…there is a difference between environmental contamination of fish a la Minamata Bay (which was truly horrible) and natural mercury due to deep water cinnabar deposits that concentrate up the food chain. So fish from certain places and certain species have higher natural mercury content. Studies into the Faroese, who eat about half a whale (a top predator) at a sitting, complete with lovely blubber for concentrating heavy metals, showed that there was a possibly very (and I mean VERY) slight statistical drop of one basis point or something in childrens development. Later studies showed this to be imperceptible by the age of 14, and as far as I know they didn’t control for things like marrying your cousin. Another very large study from the Seychelles into the mercury content of fish actually showed a positive correlation between mercury content and better than average developmental intelligence in children, presumably due to increased fish consumption being good for your brain. In short, unless youre eating a cat-fish caught from the waste water tank of a light bulb factory, the benefits of eating seafood far outweigh the risk of a bit of natural mercury. In Australia, being a nation of practical people who fire Prime Minister’s we don’t like and replace them with red headed Welsh women who don’t believe in God (ie Not California), our food regulator recommends that pregnant women continue to eat seafood in pregnancy due to the health benefits, and just try and avoid some of the types of fish that are known to have high natural mercury.
References can be supplied.
Cheers,
Paua.
Welcome back, and thanks for the information. It makes sense that the health benefits of eating fish outweigh any small risk of contamination, but that won’t get studies funded and even bad scientists have to eat. Possibly not fish though.
However, the point about those evil, crazy-making, mercury light thingies that flicker in a perceptible range of hertz, still stands. I hates them. I would like to suggest that whomever came up with the mandatory mercury light thing, take one and put it where the occasional, enterprisingly creative, emergency department punter has been known to put a lightbulb. No, its not an urban myth.
However, the point about those evil, crazy-making, mercury light thingies that flicker in a perceptible range of hertz, still stands. I hates them. I would like to suggest that whomever came up with the mandatory mercury light thing, take one and put it where the occasional, enterprisingly creative, emergency department punter has been known to put a lightbulb. No, its not an urban myth.
An excellent tool to gauge how much potential mercury is in the fish you are eating is the free on-line calculator found at http://www.gotmercury.org
An excellent tool to gauge how much potential mercury is in the fish you are eating is the free on-line calculator found at http://www.gotmercury.org
Magnus A: The difference between CFCs and seaborne mercury is that CFCs have pure Hg. As long as you don’t try to sniff the fumes, you’ll be OK. Since the boiling point of mercury is really high, you’d suffer more from the heat than the heavy-metal poisoning.
Not only that, but each bulb has such a tiny bit of mercury that you’d have trouble finding it.
Just like ordinary fluorescent tubes - which have been around since …
“This is pure logic of today.” Logic has nothing to do with anything today. The thing that rules is the politics of emotion.
Magnus A: The difference between CFCs and seaborne mercury is that CFCs have pure Hg. As long as you don’t try to sniff the fumes, you’ll be OK. Since the boiling point of mercury is really high, you’d suffer more from the heat than the heavy-metal poisoning.
Not only that, but each bulb has such a tiny bit of mercury that you’d have trouble finding it.
Just like ordinary fluorescent tubes - which have been around since …
“This is pure logic of today.” Logic has nothing to do with anything today. The thing that rules is the politics of emotion.