Japanese discover the whales and dolphins are too contaminated to serve as sushi.
by Delores Broten
In a bitter twist of fate, the Japanese may indeed have been contributing to scientific research as they devoured illegal whale meat. For over 20 years, despite the International Whaling Commission, Japan has claimed to be doing scientific research as it harvested minke whales for food.
Since December Greenpeace has mounted a vigorous non-violent action against the Japanese fleet illegally whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary near Antarctica. The vessel MV Arctic Sunrise has documented the deaths of many of the 440 whales the Japanese plan to kill, and activists have faced great personal danger in their struggle to get world governments to condemn Japan's actions.
To date Brazil, New Zealand, Argentina, Britain, the US and Australia have registered diplomatic protests against the Japanese whaling. Meanwhile, Norway and Japan continue to try to overturn the ban on international trade in whale products through CITES (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species).
Now Japanese scientists have advised people not to eat whale meat, because of contamination with heavy metals and chemicals which can cause serious human health problems including immune system damage, sterility, and hormone disruption. Sales of whale meat have slumped, and some supermarkets have pulled the meat off the shelves. The scientists also found a quarter of the samples contained meat from other species such as dolphins and porpoises and, in one case in 20, from fully protected species such as humpback and sperm whales.
Toxic chemicals can build up in whales and dolphins to 70,000 times the levels found in the waters in which they swim and feed. Over half of 100 samples tested in one study were above recommended consumption levels for mercury, lead, PCBs, DDT, or dioxin. The results were confirmed by the Japanese Environment Agency. One scientist said eating just three ounces of the meat could result in health problems.
Further raising public concern, a seven-year study of children in the Faroe Islands has found that those whose mothers had eaten contaminated whale meat during pregnancy were much more likely to suffer brain and heart damage.
* London Independent, Greenpeace, January 2000
[From WS February/March 2000]