Japanese Government Stealing Their Children's Future

[earthangel]

JAPANESE GOVERNMENT STEALING THEIR CHILDREN'S FUTURE

Raise Your Voice against Whaling & Whale meat Consumption
Stop Poisoning your Babies with Mercury and PCB's

In the history of every culture, there comes a time when customs and practices must change for the good of humankind. That time has come for Japan. It is time to face the concerns of the scientific community and stop hunting and consuming whales, for the sake of the Japanese people and the future of the marine mammals.

Pro-whaling nations insist that whale meat is healthier than beef. But the truth is that whales are particularly vulnerable to environmental contaminants, including organochlorines such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and dioxin and heavy metals, such as mercury and methylmercury.

High levels of mercury appear to be present in whale meat sold widely as food in Japan, even in schools, with further sales of cheap whale meat to be sold on the menus of hospitals, bars and more schools.

Scientists warn that women and children are highly vulnerable and affected by the consumption of contaminated whale meat. Pregnant women consuming toxic whale meat place their babies and themselves in immediate danger. And all that, with their government's blessings.

Frank Cipriano, Ph.D., director of the Conservation Genetics Laboratory at San Francisco State University stated that "This is a clear signal that Japan has a major health problem that the government has not addressed."

The effects of environmental contaminants in humans are serious. PCBs can cause neurotoxicity (nerve damage), reproductive and developmental disorders, immune system suppression, liver damage, skin irritation, and endocrine disruption. DDT exposure is associated with certain cancer risks and neurological and reproductive disorders. Dioxins, among the most toxic substances known, can cause cancer, metabolic dysfunction, and immune system disorders.

High levels of methylmercury appear to be present in whale meat sold widely as food in Japan, even in schools. According to a study by Japanese scientists, some samples contain almost 200 times the maximum safety value.

In 2002, University of Hokkaido researchers found that liver samples taken from whales and dolphins had average concentrations of mercury that were 900 times above the safety limit. Two of the samples were 9000 times the limit.

As for toxicity, mercury safety limits were breached in 62 per cent of the samples and limits of methylmercury, a more poisonous form of mercury derived by the action of bacteria in the water, were exceeded in 53 per cent of them.

The average level of mercury and that of methylmercury was respectively more than five times and nearly four times the maximum allowable levels.

All the small cetacean samples were above the limit, for both mercury and methylmercury.

The irony, says the report, is that whale meat is marketed in Japan as a health food, distributed for school lunches and even for medical benefit.

Norway, the only other country that kills significant numbers of whales, in 2003 advised pregnant and breastfeeding women against eating whale meat because of worries about mercury.

Mercury in the Umbilical Cord: Implications for Risk Assessment for Minamata Disease.

Scientists examined the relation between the mercury concentrations in umbilical cord tissue with the methylmercury levels in the mother's hair and in the umbilical cord blood. The umbilical cord tissue was obtained from 50 births in the Faroe Islands where high methylmercury intake is caused by regularly eating a lot of pilot whale meat.

Minamata disease is the name given to the bad effects caused by methylmercury in Japanese people living on Minamata Bay Japan. These Japanese fishing villagers were severely poisoned with methylmercury by regularly eating a lot of fish locally caught in Minamata Bay Japan for a long time. A local Japanese industry dumped great amounts of mercury-containing industrial waste directly into Minamata Bay Japan.

The methylmercury levels in the umbilical cord tissue match-up well with those methylmercury levels found in the umbilical cord blood and almost as well with the methylmercury levels found in the mothers hair.

These scientists found that high levels of methylmercury in the umbilical cord tissue are clearly related to how often the pregnant mothers ate how much pilot whale meat. There was much variation in the methylmercury levels from one mother and child to the next mother and child.

Relying on whale meat as a source of protein is not just dangerous for adults, it can also be unhealthy for their children.

Suffice to say, the Japanese government should consider halting commercial whaling and the consumption of highly toxic whale meat for the sake of their future offspring.

It is time for the women of Japan to stand up and oppose to Japanese government's plans of hiding the truth. Whale meat is dangerous and should be omitted immediately from human diet.

The awful truth must be spread and widely known.

Whilst we recognize the significance of whales & whaling in the history and culture of Japan, we believe that it is time to look into the future, and stop a practice that puts in danger the health of generations to come.

Whale Call Inc, its members and supporters implore you to pass this letter to all your local government reps, your Japanese Embassy and Consulate, Your local Sister City committee [for those who have a sister city relationship with Japan], your groups, your friends and your family, to also pass on this important message.

And please ask the simply question -- 'WHY'

[mad pierrot]

Because I'm actually going to agree with EarthAngel on this one.


Even though I've eaten whale meat and disagree with her on the issue, Whale meat is particularly high in mercury, to the best of my knowledge. I don't forsee myself eating whale much again in the future, and I definately wouldn't recommend anyone regularly consume it.

And, on a side note, people should avoid eating massive amounts of tuna for similiar reasons. I don't think this will be a problem for most people, but if you ever tried to gain weight for a sport, or just tried to build muscle, tuna is always an easy option. (Low in fat, high in protien.) I once ate one can of tuna a day when I was training for a competition.

[earthangel]

That's good Mad Pierrot. Then do Japanese people a favor and please spread the word.

You are right about tuna also, but I doubt it would have 900-9000 times the amount of mercury above acceptable limits as some whale meat does.

Personally I love Japanese people having lived in Japan for a year about 25 years ago and hate the idea of them suffering such a terrible death. I found them to be the kindest, most generous, appreciative culture I have encountered in all my world travels. I will be forever grateful for the lessons I learned there.

But it's a real problem that they are so obedient, so steeped in the status quo. There needs to be more openness to new information such as this. How can it be spread before so many school children get sick and die from whale meat?

[Bucko]

I smell an anti-whaling agenda in that article. Not that I'm for whaling in anyway, I'm completely against it, but that article just seems the same type of scare tactics that you'd find from vegan groups regarding the "dangers" of, say, beef consumption.

[Mikawa Ossan]

Whale meat isn't really all that common here in Japan.

It isn't served in many places school lunch, for example. (I can personally vouch that there is not any whale meat for at least two school districts in Japan, one in Aichi, and one in Yamaguchi.)

[nice gaijin]

I've read about Minamata disease, and how the mercury ethyl and acetaldehyde in the chemical effluent from the Chisso plant. I found these cases to be excellent reasons why there should be no "acceptable" level of toxic waste in the rivers and oceans of the world. However, I do not consider them to be particularly compelling reasons to avoid whale meat. The initial response to reports that the sea was the source of the poison were met with outrage.

It is the only sea I can trust. When people tell me that the sea is dirty, I curse them, I want to strike them. The sea "dirty"? How dare they say the sea is dirty! It is not the sea that wrongs. The sea has done nothing wrong. The sea is my life. The sea is my religion. The sea comforts me--it has given me courage and sustenance and escape from the quarrels of shorebound men. When I thought I was dying and my hands were numb and wouldn't work--and my father was dying too--when the villagers turned against us--it was to the sea that I would go to cry. The sea protected my tears. I talk crazy about the sea. No one can understand why I love the sea so much. The sea has never abandoned me. The sea is the blood in my veins.

This fisherman was completely right. It wasn't the sea or the fish or even their eating habits that poisoned the people and animals of Minamata, it's the companies that dump waste into lifeblood of the people. This is a case for environmental awareness and corporate responsibility, not mere dietary discretion. Limiting the message to "don't eat whale" is ignoring the source of the problem.

Also, while the toxin levels in whales are particularly high, they are far from the only source of such poisons, and I have never heard of a Japanese person "relying on whale meat as a source of protein" I think if your goal is to convince people to give up eating whale, you shouldn't rely on an argument about toxins present in practically all seafood.

[mad pierrot]

It isn't served in many places school lunch, for example. (I can personally vouch that there is not any whale meat for at least two school districts in Japan, one in Aichi, and one in Yamaguchi.)

I think it's only served in a few prefectures. Wakayama is one of them. (With Taiji and all....)

[pipokun]

About tuna fish, the Aussie fishery does their right approaches to preserve the natural resource and do their business. Ask them direct if you're interested in it.

[Tokis-Phoenix]

earthangel, do you still have the link to site of which you got the article from?

Yes it is well known that many sea creatures easily get contaminated by things such as mercury, particually when they are at the top of large food chains (like killer whales), but it is still important to know the exact facts relevant to each situation.
I'm against eating whale (really because as far as i am concerned, we have enough animals to eat already and also because whales are generally rare and quite lacking in marine environments now days, and damage to their stocks places great strains on all sorts of food chains). Its also difficult to humanely kill a whale, due to their size and sturdyness.

[Toneza]

G'day friends ~ i'm from the Spirit land of Australia and i'm a filmmaker and have been documenting and researching whales ~ i don't want to freak anyone out but this report from our research is not good news for the foetus and babies of Japanese mothers who consume whale meat ~~

I urge you to read this report and consider your families, mothers and sisters, and make them aware of this very serious problem ~ thankyou ~~

Whale Call Incorporated, www.whalecall.org , an international non-profit NGO, is concerned with ocean research and conservation.

Whale Call research has indicated specific concerns relating to the health of Japanese children.

The following letter outlines our concern.

Is Your Government Stealing Away Your Children's Future?
__________________________________________________ __

Raise Your Voice against Whaling & Whale meat Consumption
Stop Poisoning your Babies with Mercury and PCB's

In the history of every culture, there comes a time when customs and practices must change for the good of humankind. That time has come for Japan. It is time to face the concerns of the scientific community and stop hunting and consuming whales, for the sake of the Japanese people and the future of the marine mammals.

Pro-whaling nations insist that whale meat is healthier than beef. But the truth is that whales are particularly vulnerable to environmental contaminants, including organochlorines such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and dioxin and heavy metals, such as mercury and methylmercury.

High levels of mercury appear to be present in whale meat sold widely as food in Japan, even in schools, with further sales of cheap whale meat to be sold on the menus of hospitals, bars and more schools.

Scientists warn that women and children are highly vulnerable and affected by the consumption of contaminated whale meat. Pregnant women consuming toxic whale meat place their babies and themselves in immediate danger. And all that, with their government's blessings.

Frank Cipriano, Ph.D., director of the Conservation Genetics Laboratory at San Francisco State University stated that "This is a clear signal that Japan has a major health problem that the government has not addressed."

The effects of environmental contaminants in humans are serious. PCBs can cause neurotoxicity (nerve damage), reproductive and developmental disorders, immune system suppression, liver damage, skin irritation, and endocrine disruption. DDT exposure is associated with certain cancer risks and neurological and reproductive disorders. Dioxins, among the most toxic substances known, can cause cancer, metabolic dysfunction, and immune system disorders.

According to a study by Japanese scientists, some samples contain almost 200 times the maximum safety value.

In 2002, University of Hokkaido researchers found that liver samples taken from whales and dolphins had average concentrations of mercury that were 900 times above the safety limit. Two of the samples were 9000 times the limit.

As for toxicity, mercury safety limits were breached in 62 per cent of the samples and limits of methylmercury, a more poisonous form of mercury derived by the action of bacteria in the water, were exceeded in 53 per cent of them.

The average level of mercury and that of methylmercury was respectively more than five times and nearly four times the maximum allowable levels.

All the small cetacean samples were above the limit, for both mercury and methylmercury.

The irony, says the report, is that whale meat is marketed in Japan as a health food, distributed for school lunches and even for medical benefit.

Norway, the only other country that kills significant numbers of whales, in 2003 advised pregnant and breastfeeding women against eating whale meat because of worries about mercury.
Mercury in the Umbilical Cord: Implications for Risk Assessment for Minamata Disease.
Scientists examined the relation between the mercury concentrations in umbilical cord tissue with the methylmercury levels in the mother痴 hair and in the umbilical cord blood. The umbilical cord tissue was obtained from 50 births in the Faroe Islands where high methylmercury intake is caused by regularly eating a lot of pilot whale meat.

Minamata disease is the name given to the bad effects caused by methylmercury in Japanese people living on Minamata Bay Japan. These Japanese fishing villagers were severely poisoned with methylmercury by regularly eating a lot of fish locally caught in Minamata Bay Japan for a long time. A local Japanese industry dumped great amounts of mercury-containing industrial waste directly into Minamata Bay Japan.

The methylmercury levels in the umbilical cord tissue match-up well with those methylmercury levels found in the umbilical cord blood and almost as well with the methylmercury levels found in the mother痴 hair.

These scientists found that high levels of methylmercury in the umbilical cord tissue are clearly related to how often the pregnant mothers ate how much pilot whale meat. There was much variation in the methylmercury levels from one mother and child to the next mother and child.

Relying on whale meat as a source of protein is not just dangerous for adults, it can also be unhealthy for their children.

Suffice to say, the Japanese government should consider halting commercial whaling and the consumption of highly toxic whale meat for the sake of their future offspring.

It is time for the women of Japan to stand up and oppose to Japanese government's plans of hiding the truth. Whale meat is dangerous and should be omitted immediately from human diet.

The awful truth must be spread and widely known.

While we recognize the significance of whales & whaling in the history and culture of Japan, we believe that it is time to look into the future, and stop a practice that puts in danger the health of generations to come.

~~~

Blessings peace&unity Toneza

兎very drop of rain that falls ends up in the mouths of whales � it is up to humans to control what substances enter that raindrop during its journey to the ocean�

[Maciamo]

Excellent original article !

The effects of environmental contaminants in humans are serious. PCBs can cause neurotoxicity (nerve damage), reproductive and developmental disorders, immune system suppression, liver damage, skin irritation, and endocrine disruption. DDT exposure is associated with certain cancer risks and neurological and reproductive disorders.

I have noticed that a big percentage of the Japanese population suffer from allergies (the most famous being pollen allergy) and a relatively weak immunity system. I thought this could be due to the inconsiderate way that doctors prescribe antibotics for almost anything. But the toxicity of whale meat, and even big fish meat (like tuna, which is heavily consumed in Japan), may also have a role to play in this.

I am not pointing the finger at whale meat, because it is not eaten much these days (except in some rural areas). I think that the "growth at all cost" policy of the 1950's, 60's and 70's (similar to China now) and the pollution it caused may have had a considerable negative impact on the health of people born in these decades.

[isanatori]

Hello,

I'm sorry to say this is no more than misleading propaganda from an anti-whaling NGO. The goal is make people believe all whale meat is bad for health, which is UNTRUE.

Here's a report of a study conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on food products using whale meat/blubber (sorry it's only in Japanese language).
You will notice that the meat from Antarctic Minke whales (ミンククジラ(南極海)) contains almost NO mercury or organochlorines ans is perfectly HEALTHY and RISKLESS. Let's also say that Antarctic Minke whale meat is the most widely whale product in Japan (and is the one served in schools and to be served in hospitals).
Meat of baleen whales from the NW Pacific Ocean is also quite healthy.

Let's also say it is quite uncommon to eat the liver of toothed whales in Japan. It is mostly flesh (muscles) and blubber that are consumed.

However, It is true that there is a health risk for people who often eat meat or blubber from toothed whales (Baird's beaked whale, pilot whales, dolphins).
This practice mostly concerns some communities such as Wada (Chiba prefecture) or Taiji (Wakayama prefecture).
The Japanese authorities should inform people of the risks they take and make sure the labelling of products precise what species of whale meat is used.