Japan Finds Pollution in Whale Fat

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Japan Finds Pollution in Whale Fat

Thu Aug 8,10:02 AM ET

 

TOKYO (AP) - Authorities found dangerous levels of a

suspected cancer-causing agent in the blubber of minke

whales caught by the Japanese fleet last year, and

processors were told to boil the fat before selling

it.

 

Japan is one of the world's largest consumers of whale

meat, a delicacy served in the nation's gourmet

restaurants. Despite a global ban on commercial

whaling, the government kills hundreds of whales each

year as part of its research program.

 

Fisheries Agency official Joji Morishita said Thursday

that four out of five random blubber samples from the

100 minke whales Japan hunted in the Pacific last

year, contained up to 0.72 parts per million of PCBs,

or polychlorinated biphenyls — a potentially

cancer-causing toxin. The government-set safe level is

0.5 parts per million.

 

Fisheries officials said the PCB levels in blubber is

not a problem because contamination can be reduced

during meat processing. Whale blubber is seldom eaten

raw here and is most commonly consumed smoked, boiled

or preserved in salt.

 

" The contamination adds to the list of reasons why we

shouldn't eat whale meat, " said Nanami Kurahashi, an

anti-whaling activist. " We want to know more details

about the extent of the contamination. "

 

Japan has been pushing to get International Whaling

Commission ( news - web sites)'s 1986 global ban on

commercial whaling lifted.

 

The IWC allows Japan a limited catch for scientific

research. Opponents of the program, including the

United States, Britain and Australia, say the research

hunt is a front for commercial whaling. Much of the

meat ends up in restaurants.

 

 

 

 

 

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