(JP) Futo Dolphin Meat Found Contaminated with Mercury

[Guest guest]

Posted for Elsa Nature Conservancy

 

 

A Report of Mercury Contamination:

 

Dolphin Meat from the Recent Drive Fishery in Futo was Highly

Contaminated with Mercury

 

Elsa Nature Conservancy (ENC) acquired a slice of meat from a

bottlenose dolphin that was captured by the drive fishery in Futo

and butchered on November 11, 2004. ENC immediately sent it to

Hokkaido, asking Dr. Tetsuya Endo at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical

Sciences, Health Science University of Hokkaido to examine it for

mercury contamination.

 

The meat was found to be highly contaminated. It contained 19.2 ppm

(parts per million) of mercury, which is 48 times higher than the

maximum advisory level of 0.4 ppm set by the Health, Labor and

Welfare Ministry of Japan.

 

According to Dr. Tetsuya Endo, the same meat is well estimated to

contain 6`7 ppm of methyl mercury, which is about 20 times higher

than the maximum advisory level of 0.3 ppm set by the Health, Labor

and Welfare Ministry of Japan, though the result of its anylysis

has not come out yet. This estimation is based on his long research

experience as well as on the results of mercury analysis done by

the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry of Japan so far, Dr. Endo

said.

 

In 2002 and 2003, ENC sent several packs of dolphin meat from

Miyagi prefecture, which were sold in Ito City and in a town named

Kawazu, southern part of Izu peninsula, Shizuoka prefecture, to the

local governmental Inspecting Center of Public Health in Ibaraki

Prefecture and Dr. Tetsuya Endo at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical

Sciences, Health Science University of Hokkaido. The inspection by

both the Inspection Center and Dr. Endo proved that all of the meat

was contaminated by mercury, and especially one pack of dolphin

meat showed as much as 5.69ppm of mercury, which is 14.2 times

higher than the maximum advisory level. The meat was from Miyagi,

not from Ito/Futo drive fisheries, but the supermarkets in Ito city

stopped selling dolphin meat for a considerable time in 2003.

 

Contaminated Dolphin meat should not be sold, and the drive fishery

should be stopped:

 

The Inspecting Center of Public Health in Ibaraki Prefecture once

advised that the meat whose mercury contamination exceeds the

maximum advisory level of 0.4 ppm should be disposed. Eating

poisoned dolphin meat is a serious health hazard, causing damage to

the brain and nervous system, especially can be dangerous for young

children and pregnant women.

@

ENC reported the result of the mercury inspection of dolphin meat

that was acquired from the recent drive fishery in Futo, warned its

high leveled contamination, to the placed concerned, and requested

to stop selling dolphin meat as well as to end the drive fishery

itself.

@

The Asahi, the Yomiuri, and the Mainichi, the biggest three

newspapers in Japan, reported this contamination news on their

local edition. Their readers estimated far more than 300,000 in

all. However, the local newspaper such as the Izu and the Shizuoka

ignored this news. It is said that they fear their readers to

cancel their subscription if they report the contamination.

 

What we can do:

 

Write a letter to the following places and warn them that

contaminated dolphin meat can harm the health of citizens and

tourists. Ask them to end the drive fishery of dolphins and stop

selling dolphin meat.

@

Places to send a petition letter:

 

* Mr. Toichiro Suzuki, Mayor of Ito

@E-mail: hisyo

@Fax: +81-557-36-1104

 

* Ito-city gKenkou-Suishin-kah(Health-Promotion-Section in Ito

City)

@E-mail: kenko

 

* Mr. Taiji Sakurai, Mayor of Kawazu Town

E-mail: info

Fax: +81-558-34-0099

 

* Mr. Yoshinobu Ishikawa, Governor of Shizuoka prefecture

E-mail: governor

Fax. +81-54-221-2164

 

* Department of Food Safety, the Ministry of Health, Labor, and

Welfare

@E-mail: syokucommunication

@Fax: +81-3-3503-7965

@

* Supermarkets in Ito and Kawazu where dolphin meat is sold

 

Nagaya Kamata Branch: 118-1 Minamicho 2chome, Ito-shi,

Shizuoka-ken, 414-0035, Japan

 

Aoki Kawazu Branch: 123 Kawazuhama, Kamogun, Shizuoka-ken,

413-0500, Japan

 

Nakamon Suisan: Ito Shopping Center 720-143 KusumiMotowada,

Ito-shi, Shizuoka-ken, 414-0045, Japan

 

Nagahama Suisan: Ito Shopping Center 720-143 KusumiMotowada,

Ito-shi, Shizuoka-ken, 414-0045, Japan

 

 

Thank you for your help. We really appreciate it.

 

 

**************

 

Hereinbefore, ENC revealed that dolphin meat from Futo and Miyagi

prefecture was contaminated by mercury. However, mercury

contamination is not found only among dolphins killed in Futo,

Shizuoka, or Miyagi. Dolphins captured and killed in Taiji,

Wakayama prefecture, must be naturally highly contaminated with

mercury and other pollutants.

 

ENC continues its activities to stop the drive fishery, warning how

cruel and unsustainable the method of the drive fishery is as well

as how dangerous to eat highly contaminated dolphin meat.

[Guest guest]

I have sent letters of petitions.

 

PV