Mercury in tuna:

 Mercury in tuna: Got interested in this last week, and did some research (I'm not a trained nutritionist; do your own research). Here is an interesting piece in Consumer Reports, which I summarize here, with some other reading results:

***Eating too much mercury can wreck your nervous system and damage your brain. Some tuna have dangerously high mercury levels. But low-mercury tuna has very healthy fats in it, and should be eaten (unless you're vegetarian).
1. These brands of "Chunk Light" tuna, in water, are all OK (low-enough mercury to be considered safe, and everyone except pregnant women can eat up to 3 cans per week without a mercury concern): Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea, and Starkist. These are smaller fish which have less mercury in them. ("Light tuna" is mostly Skipjack tuna, which is best for having low mercury, but "light tuna" may also include yellowfin or Bigeye tuna, which are bad, and this is why individual cans of tuna can vary in mercury level. But on average, this form of tuna is safe.)
Consumer Reports does not think you have to buy the expensive tuna brands if avoiding too much mercury is the goal (you may have other reasons; see below).
2. Albacore is best avoided--these are larger fish which collect much more mercury. I note that the fresh fish caught and sold on Oregon's coast are Albacore, so I plan to stop eating them. Older, larger Albacores have about 10x as much mercury. This mercury comes primarily from China and India burning our coal (and their coal), and the mercury-containing ash floats over the Pacific and then falls into the water. I see trains full of coal here, headed to China, and it makes me cringe because I know that crap is blowing back on us here.
3. Halibut is in the medium-risk category, along with Chilean Sea Bass and Mahi Mahi.
4. Worst of all, to be avoided, are Albacore and Bigeye tuna, which is used for sushi. ***Do not eat wild-caught solid Albacore.
5. There are many fish in the "safe for mercury" category, including: Anchovy, Cod, Crab, Lobster, Oyster, Clam, Salmon, Steelhead, Sardine, Scallop, Tilapia, Trout, Catfish, Shrimp, Lobster, Pollock.
6. Chunk light tuna is "purse seined," which means netted (a vertical wall of net in the water--the ship makes a circle with it and confines the school of tuna). The line-caught tunas, which avoid bycatch (catching other species unintentionally), are high in mercury. So there is a moral element to this health issue. BUT, the bycatch rate in purse seining is less than 1%. If I have to choose between eating less mercury and having less than 1% of the fish caught be "not tuna," I'll regretfully let the less than 1% non-tuna be caught.

(photo credit: istock)





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's time to harp on the US deficit again!

Image
Time to harp on the deficit again. 43% of every dollar spent by our federal govt is being borrowed. The government's expenses are only 57% covered by revenue (from taxes, mostly). This is wildly unsustainable, and in a strong economy it is beyond reckless--it's criminal. In my opinion, it can only lead to the destruction of our currency, our economy, and our very country, which means of course that you and I may lose all our assets and possibly our lives. The only way to avoid this is to do what no politician is willing to even talk about: Dramatically raise taxes and dramatically cut spending. Doing that might cause a deep recession and greatly increase poverty, but it would save the country. The irony is that NOT doing it will also cause a deep recession and increase poverty, but it will further bring about the end of the US. When you've borrowed all that you can, then you are out of options. You are bankrupt; the game is over. We are close to that point. No one can kno
Read more

Oh, this is nice: Shell Oil feigning support for renewable energy while worsening climate change:

Image
  This article is interesting:  Oh, this is very nice: Shell Oil is paying its shareholders $23B in a special dividend, while cutting its staff 25% in the group that's working to move the company into low-carbon business. Nice. The only way to fight this, on a personal level, is to work very hard to use less oil and natural gas. Fly less! Drive a hybrid or all-electric car! Replace gas stoves and furnaces and water heaters with electric. Look for ways to use less plastic. You know, if any company has a spare $23B that they don't know what to do with, it might be nice if they paid more in taxes, or donated to nonprofits that feed, house, and educate people. Our governments don't take care of the destitute, so maybe the big corporations should.
Read more

Absolutely there are limits on free speech

Image
  Absolutely there are limits on free speech*. College presidents are clueless when they defend free speech so much that they fail to discipline students who call for the extermination of Jews. And they should discipline students who call for the extermination of Palestinians, or any civilian peoples. It's surprising, that high-paid college presidents, who have access to good attorneys, would let themselves be paraded thru a shitshow in Congress, over this. Rep. Stefanik, though guilty of grandstanding for political gain, was right to complain about this, though I hope she remembers there are limits to free speech, whenever she has an opportunity to combat hate speech against gays, atheists, and liberals, which has been so vociferously spouted by some members of her party. (*Most people agree that you can't shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater. Similary, I believe that the intentional publication (especially by mass media) of a known lie, as true, should carry civil an
Read more