Think Twice About Going Out For Sushi
By Nicole Belle Thursday Jan 24, 2008 9:30pm
I'm really bummed by this because I'm a huge sushi fan. But the NY Times ran an investigative piece (reg. req'd) on the dangerously high levels of mercury in tuna used in 20 Manhattan sushi bars and restaurants. Just six pieces of this sushi a week would exceed levels set by the EPA:
Sushi from 5 of the 20 places had mercury levels so high that the Food and Drug Administration could take legal action to remove the fish from the market. The sushi was bought by The New York Times in October.
Unfortunately, the NY Times doesn't really go into how that mercury got into the tuna in the first place.
To understand how mercury contaminates fish, consider the mercury cycle. It begins with mercury being emitted to the atmosphere by sources such as coal-burning power plants. The mercury washes out of the air with precipitation and comes down on land and water.
Here's the perfect example of how de-regulation and embracing of conservative free market principles are completely unsustainable: we're now poisoning our food, and ourselves. But don't tell that to Rick Berman, who sent out a press release demanding that the NY Times retract the article.
“Yellow(fin) journalism like this does a great disservice to ordinary consumers,” added Martosko. “Study after study shows that the documented health benefits of eating fish far outweigh any hypothetical risks. I know the Times is losing money and cutting costs, but maybe they shouldn’t have cut back on their scientific research budget.”
Yeah, I'm going to trust a lobbyist funded by Phillip Morris for all my healthful diet choices. Newsweek's Sharon Begley takes apart Berman point by point.
So when the Center for Consumer Freedom sent me (and probably scores of other reporters) a press release slamming yesterday’s New York Times story chronicling the high mercury levels the newspaper found in tuna sushi served in New York City restaurants and sold in upscale stores, I didn’t reflexively think, “oh, this is the group jump-started with a pile of money from a tobacco giant.” I didn’t think, “this is the group whose leader promised said tobacco company, Philip Morris, ‘to unite the restaurant and hospitality industries in a campaign to defend their consumers and marketing programs against attacks from anti-smoking, anti-drinking, anti-meat, etc. activists.’” I didn’t automatically recall the Washington Post editorial citing “documents showing that Coca-Cola, Wendy's, Tyson Foods, Cargill and Outback Steakhouse are among [founder Rick] Berman's largest donors.” I didn’t automatically recall that Berman had, as the Post reported, “accused Mothers Against Drunk Driving a. . . of ‘junk science, intimidation tactics, and even threats of violence to push their radical agenda.’” (I found those references only later.)
She actually gets into the science part to show that once again, free market principles to Berman means that consumers should have the right to allow companies to do their work unfettered by the concern that they may be poisoning the populace.
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Frist with a cigarette.
heavy metals in fish is ancient news, people have known about this problem for decades.
check out your local States DNR booklet on what is the safe level of fresh water fish consumption.
Hmm, this story smells fishy to me.
Oh yeah, I went there. Why pass up a good joke?
The biggest reason to avoid Sushi is the Reverend Sun Yun Moon has the market cornered. Every time you eat it he makes money.
Why is it just sushi that's toxically mercury-laden? Why not other fish, too? Doesn't all fish come from the same place? I know there are fish farms, yes, but aren't the fish sold as sushi raised on fish farms, too? Or is sushi "wild fish" harvested only from the open ocean?
Maybe it's time to look at ALL the fish we consume, and the hell with the fisheries that supply it if it's poisonous.
Nicole,
First sushi I had was in San Francisco in a small Japanese restaurant (like, really small) in 1978.
With an instant girlfriend.
This means nothing, except nostalgia.
What kind of "superior species" poisons its air, its water, its food?
The fact that there *IS* an "acceptable" level of poison in our food says enough...
What this planet needs more than anything is a mass extinction of homo sapiens to rid it of its most dangerous parasite.
Sushi and Rev. Moon
How Americans' growing appetite for sushi is helping to support his controversial church
By Monica Eng, Delroy Alexander and David Jackson | Tribune staff reporters
April 11, 2006
What's that smell
like fish
Oh, Baby, I
Really want to know....
Tuna are near the top of the marine food chain, therefore they accumulate all the toxins of everything they eat and everything their prey ate. Think Pyramids.
Its the historical and social reason that humans as a rules do not eat land predators, mainly young fast growing herbivores.
Is that just New York? Sushi the cocaine of food we used to say in the 80's.
Seafood is consistently the most polluted of the animal products, and yet people still think it's "health food". No animal product is health food. For you OR the earth. Overfishing, overgrazing, lagoons of pig poop, greenhouse gases, cancer, diabetes, obesity... time to kick the habit.
It is a real problem for people who like fish. I know I use to eat tuna everyday, but quit when the warning came out.
Ask Stephanie Miller about mercury poisoning, her level was about as high as one could have.
Adhering to a plan Moon spelled out more than three decades ago in a series of sermons, members of his movement managed to integrate virtually every facet of the highly competitive seafood industry. The Moon followers' seafood operation is driven by a commercial powerhouse, known as True World Group. It builds fleets of boats, runs dozens of distribution centers and, each day, supplies most of the nation's estimated 9,000 sushi restaurants
Best web site...http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/SeafoodWatch.asp
Those of us who are dedicated listeners to the Stephanie Miller radio show know that she was diagnosed with Mercury Poisoning last month. She ate tuna for lunch every day. I believe she has given that up.
Please, please, please, stop making excuses. Tuna has been compromised and it is not healthy to eat. It doesn't matter HOW much you pay for it. Tuna has been poisoned by the fact that the oceans are now poisoned. Deal with that.
Required @ 7:
Enlightened societies dont poison their environment, but its a constant battle between the greedy and the environmentalists.
Many places like Europe and parts of the US have cleaned up their rivers and enforced strict laws to keep them clean, but theirs always people who will bribe politicians to relax the EPA regulations.
Short term verses long, and theres the cost of cleaning up the mistakes and crimes of the past.
The west has a major problem looming in the future with the 100,000s tons of chemical weapons dumped after WW1 and WW2 offshore, in some cases mere miles from the beaches.
This will come back and bite us.
I would no more eat raw fish than I would drink urine filtered through a couple pairs of socks. Who on Earth eats raw fish and thinks that's a good idea? Yes, the Japanese. But none of them are taller than 5 foot 5. Shouldn't that tell you people something? If they cooked their fish, they'd probably all hit 6 feet, easily :-)
Stellaa @ 15:
I agree this is a great source, but best posted like this for ease of use.
Pickled Herring is rather good :)
What mercury problem?
Never fear folks, we've got BushCo in charge. If analysis shows sampling exceeding the FDA limits, no problemo. Just raise the exposure limits! Voila, no more "mercury problem." This ain't rocket science. It's "Bush science."
In case anyone is really wondering, it's a policy of repubs to talk free market & then let corporations do whatever they want, no matter who gets hurt or what laws are broken. True free market principles are based on laws, and one of the main ones is that you're not allowed to hurt, or poison people.
What? now I cant even enjoy expensive sushi dinners without worrying about my own death. Thanks corporate polluters!
John Aravosis' Neighbor Barbara @ 16:
Back when I lived in Japan, the conventional wisdom the high cost was enough to keep you from poisoning yourself, because no one could afford to eat enough to do that. Looks like those days are long gone (mercury levels must be much higher now). Another problem with tuna is, due to the rise in popularity of sushi, we've damn near eaten them all. And, though they have tried, the Japanese fish farmers can't get the eggs to hatch in captivity. So, even if you get farmed tuna, it nevertheless began its life in our polluted oceans.
I will definitely miss my sashimi lunches...
Can't eat the fish. Can't eat the cows. Can't eat the pigs. Can't eat the birds.
What's left?
SOYLENT GREEN!
nearly the SAME level of mercury in a flu shot but its apparently somehow safer to inject it rather than eat it.
Why is it that children were getting rates 3-4x higher than this reported elvel for adults in their vaccines and they don't think it was a problem then?
BTW - mercury still exists in many of the shots. It was removed as a perservative from many (but not all) but still is left over from the manufacturing process.
to me, raw food = parasites.
Where have you been? We knew it was getting bad 40 years ago, identified what needed to be done - and then threw it all in the toilet by electing neo-liberal fascists.
I thought you lived in san fransisco? (sp)
All things are connected - it isnt global climate change - it isnt polution - it isnt species obliteration -
- it is the american way of life - which means 5% of the worlds populaton consuming 25% of the worlds resources, which means 20 % of the planets population can live the american way of life. In case you hadnt noticed - 1/6 th of the population are affluent (almost at that 20 % level) the rest live in poverty.
Its population issues and obscene ways of life in the industrialized countries. All things interelate.
If you live in SF, you should have read this ...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/19/SS6JS8RH0.DTL
... this is just a piece of the way we are destroying our habitat - mercury poisons from power generation to drive the engines that feed the american way of life is another.
Its not mercury - its the american way of life - and sadly, that wont change as long as we are consumption whores.
[
DangarWagI mean Drew, there is nothing wrong with the posting. No 9/11 conspiracy theories please-Sitemonitor]I heard it was Blue fin tuna....yeah...I know .that doesn't mean much.what do you expect...when they use the ocean for a garbage dump.......not to mention what comes out of the atmosphere.
Just think of what they dump in the ocean.Everything from plastic...to radioactive materials.I love my sashimi...............obviously I'm gonna cut back on it....but theres nuthin better than some chilled sashimi on a hot day.
It is also in our childrens Vaccines and in our Teeth everytime you recieve Amalgams.
Hey, I've got the perfect argument for the Bush Administration to rebuke this "mercury issue," one with all the science-free simplemindedness of a word like "Dubya," presented in simple bullet point format that even a Bush supporter can understand...
1. Remind people that fish pee and poo where they live.
2. By definition, their pee/poo "permeates the fish" through simple absorption.
3. So when you eat fish, you're eating fish pee/poo as well.
4. If THAT doesn't bother you, why should you EVER be concerned over wholly insignificant, trace amounts of mercury?
5. What, you're STILL concerned? WHY DON'T YOU SUPPORT THE TROOPS? WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA?
6. Mutter something about Al Gore, baby seals and tinfoil hats, then angrily walk away.
http://www.theppk.com/
There's lots to eat without eating meat.
Just sayin'.
steve davis @ 18:
Idiot. STFU.
"Yeah, I’m going to trust a lobbyist funded by Phillip Morris for all my healthful diet choices. Newsweek’s Sharon Begley takes apart Berman point by point."
One only need follow the money strings to Berman's puppet masters to realize the fish stinks from the head.
and I suppose growth hormones in beef,chicken and pork...is going to do us all well in the long run.we're fucked...no matter how you look at it.oh...and veggies......it's either with or without bugs or bugshit...
ferrofluid @ 20:
with vodka ..
Free markets for them, regulated information for you.
I wonder what these chumps think they're going to eat when the food and water supplies are poisoned beyond repair?
CappuccettoRosso @ 37:
mmmm.......I like vodka...with ruby red grapefruit juice and lots of ice.(as long as the ice isn't contaminated).
Nicole,
If you and your family ever get over to Japan and are in the Tokyo/Yokohama area, look me up. I'll take you to some sushi places that will knock your socks off.
Tim
Never mind what's in the meat.
I think the bigger story is that there won't be enough fish left in the near future.With the newer Technologies that find the schools of fish......they don't have the chance to reproduce in significant numbers.......hence..........no fish.
I always like pickled herring (in any flavor) on rye with a half-boiled runny egg, caviar and lots of onions.
In Scandinavia, that's breakfast for some folks. The caviar in the tube at the petrol station isn't the kind of caviar I started my day out with for six years. But it'll do.
mudshark @ 40:
Sounds great as such, but grapefruit doesn't go w/herring. Just top quality plain CRYSTAL CLEAR vodka . Belvedere Vodka is the tops. Never a hangover.
CappuccettoRosso @ 45:
keep the herring
mudshark @ 40:
Can I have one of those?
CappuccettoRosso @ 45:
Forgot to say it MUST be very well chilled. One never drinks non-chilled vodka.
80 proof.
Back to sushi ..
Drew @ 29:
[Deleted]
I think something is wrong with the posting…
One more time…
“Here’s the perfect example of how de-regulation and embracing of conservative free market principles are completely unsustainable: we’re now poisoning our food, and ourselves.”
That’s false.
Just because the FDA says it’s dangerous, doesn’t mean it is. The FDA after all is not all-seeing and all-powerful. It is a corrupt institution that continuously stifles beneficial drug treatments from abroad because it would place competition on local drug companies, which happen to be some of the most powerful people in the country.
The FDA bans cheap drugs from Canada, who have a good track record for safe drugs, yet the FDA says fuck the patient, what WE say goes. I would be very critical of the FDA right off the bat before I jump to conclusions that the free market fails.
The fre market has not failed.
5 out of 20 restaurants have above “acceptable” levels of mercury. But they never said where the mercury comes from. Right away factories are blamed, but they are not to blame. Mercury cannot become air-borne, it is a metal.
No, the mercury found in fish occurs naturally because of the sea water.
Before these recent Japanese hysterias, there were claims alleging the death of Lake Erie and mercury poisoning in tuna fish. All along, Lake Erie had been very much alive and was even producing near record quantities of fish at the very time the claims of its death were being made. The mercury in the tuna fish was the result of the natural presence of mercury in sea water; and evidence provided by museums showed that similar levels of mercury had been present in tuna fish since prehistoric times.
Mercury and fish are related in natural terms, it’s not because if pollution or anything like that. If it was, then why weren’t all 20 restaurants, and all the sushi restaurants of the country, have similar levels of mercury? If pollution from the air is to blame, then it must affect things a little differently.
The mercury found in fish is NORMAL and NATURAL. Of course once you get to certain levels it gets dangerous, but under normal circumstances it’s safe. Mercury is highly toxic, but in very small doses it’s ok. I have been eating sushi for years, I don’t plan on stopping because of a few cases where the levels are higher than what the FDA says is safe.
If the restaurants have enough mercury to actually HURT people, then the market will deal with it just fine. As long as there is no malicious intent (highly unlikely), there is no reason to think that the market can’t solve things. Remember, if regulation is what you want, then bodies like the FDA is what you get. The FDA is the most evil institution in the country (besides the Fed), because their concern is not the well-being of people (which is what the market focuses on), but rather how to keep special interest groups in power and prestige.
People, continue to eat sushi, I am for certain that this story was released just as an attempt to hurt the Japanese economy for them saying SOMETHING BAD ABOUT BUSH. They have a youtube video of the Japanese parliament in session questioning the truth of what Bush HAS SAID IN THE PAST REGARDING MATTERS OF NATIONAL SECURITY.
This is simply retaliation for it, that’s all. Don’t take the bait like a friggin fish!!!
Don’t be a sheeple everyone, be critical and always question….
Wow, it's getting so you can't eat anything without worrying if it will kill you or not! The meat may be treated with growth hormones or antibiotics, the fish may have high levels of lead and mercury, and don't laugh all you vegans out there Monsanto's have come up with all kinds of bio-manipulated food plants to keep you guessing too. How was that e-col i spinach scare a few months back?
Go drink some Gløgg.
i am a barely pescatarian...i eat fish about 1x a month, almost always sushi. now i am going to cut tuna out all the way. i like eel a lot...is that OK? god i hope so. I don't eat any meat, but i am working on convincing my friends to eat organic meat because I think if meat is going to require LOTS of resources it should cost money. I also think that gas should be $5/gallon so people realize the cost of driving.
anyway, i love sushi. i make it at home twice a year. i love this community.
"Fresh caught" fish aint all they are cracked up to be anymore. From the sounds of this thread I shouldnt eat tuna anymore, is Charlie the Tuna fallen on hard times? Poor guy, he used to be big a few decades ago, I guess all those years of overfishing have caught up to him. It's too bad.
MargeAggedon @ 47:
it helps to have warn sunny dayz.and i gotta feelin....outside your window.....there ain't no palm trees......may I suggest a B&B with coffee....sweetened just a tad.
I changed the content of the post...
lafin gas @ 50:
that was grown here in the Salinas Valley........turns out it was wild pig shit.either that or the field workers weren't washing their hands....or worse.
Sushi? Who goes boating, sees a fish in the water and starts drooling? Yuck. As bad as raw steak. Blood still dripping. Yuck. Don't want contamination? COOK IT!!!!!!!!
ferrofluid @ 2:
my comment precisely ..
the only "news" here is that this is being reported in a national news source ..
I'll keep eating Sushi till I die.
I've got balls!
MountainMan23 @ 58:
It's old news, but the economic war is new.
lafin gas @ 50:
Wasn't that outbreak blamed on cows or horses?
ConcernedCanuck @ 57:
first off...you bleed the fish so theres no blood left in it...secondly...you quarter the fish(w/no bones or skin)then you whip out the wasabi and ginger with some soy sauce........chase it down with some ice cold beer(preferably Sapporo)....yummm.
ConcernedCanuck @ 57:
From my understanding, this sort of warning shouldn't be specific.
What our cows eat, we eat.
What our cows are injected with, we eat.
Mercury in fish; why sure!
But everything else is a crap shoot too.
BUY LOCAL.
DAMMIT.
(as if we all have time to do so and study where our food supply comes from)
I dunno. People can grow their own vegetables and eat those.
Americans are reactive and "they" know YOU can be influenced easily and "they" don't want YOU to be eating "their" fish.
I love Tuna and I'll eat Sushi as often as I can.
mudshark @ 46:
Certainly, on warmer days. It's good protein though, less screwed with mercury than tuna, and good for our brains. Matjes kind is the best. Swedes go ga-ga for it (and Schnapps..) for Midsummer.
Belvedere Vodka: Make It Rain
Thing Fish @ 61:
My point is there are contaminates of all kinds we must know about and take precaution to avoid or correct and it will take an EPA with honest people to do the job!
disco inferno @ 59:
do they glow and spin?why am i hearing Gladys Knight and the Pips........leaven on that midnight train to Georgia.....wooo...Hooo
lafin gas @ 50:
Exactly.
How pathetic and sad is that?
Posilac. It puts the puss in your milk.
Just ask Monsanto.
CappuccettoRosso @ 65:
I have a lot of friends who are fishermen....they say don't eat the older fish.(they don't)you can't eat the young fish either.......the older the fish...the more the contaminates.
e. @ 63:
You do bring up a good point. Who knows exactly what you eat when it isn't purchased from a local grower. Heck, who knows what you are really eating then. There are so damn many additives, both natural and unnatural in all foods now, just what exactly is good for you? And who would ever trust a government agency to tell them what is healthy to eat? I wouldn't. In my country if it says "Canada #1" it's usually followed by a "Product of USA" or "Product of China". If it's packaged in Canada, or partially packaged, they can claim on it that it is Canadian. Hell, I watched a CBC documentary on boxed cereal. What a joke. They pretended to be a concerned distributor and phoned Kelloggs, Quaker, etc, and asked them what exactly was in their cereal. The answers ranged from "we can't divulge that info" to "we really don't know what is in it".....Honestly, some of them DID NOT KNOW. Yet the packaging says they do. LOL!
too much shell fish is worse.
The spread looks better than sex!!
Sushi and sashimi are the most addictive foods ever put together.
As soon as this story broke, there was a piece on it on the local Vancouver BC news, since I imagine Vancouver has more sushi places than anywhere in North America, save San Fran. I love sushi and would be really upset if I couldn't have it on a regular basis. The news (Global) said it doesn't really affect BC sushi places that much...
That is a very interesting connection to make between pollution and free market principles. It is too bad that it is completely and utterly wrong. Do I have to point out that pollution is far worse in the economies that do not embrace free market principles. Collective ownership of anything means everyone gets to exploit and no one is responsible for conservation. The real problem was the poor technical choices we made years ago when it was thought that the cure for pollution was dilution. Build taller smokestacks and and dump in larger bodies of water as if the earth was an inexhaustible sink for our waste. Everyone did it and the collective economies of the Soviet Union showed the least regard for their citizens when disposing of these wastes. The same thing is still happening in China today. Trying to blame everything on "free market principles" is a big mistake and won't help to solve the problem. The free market principles will work to solve the problem when the real and sometimes hidden costs are factored into manufacturing and distribution of all goods. Carbon Tax anyone?
MountainMan23 @ 58:
Not quite. The levels are higher than ever. Heavy metals in environment (save for micro natural background levels) are a result of INDUSTRIAL RUNOFF. Very little was done ever to contain the heavy metals. Thresholds were being raised, before booosh. Removal from sewage is quite expensive and requires additional process = money.. So, we dump it back to where it came from:waters. Even the Ban on Ocean Dumping didn't take care of this.
Lead, another heavy metal, is an omnipresent gasoline additive, the worst source of lead in environment (only the additive tetra-ethyl lead can raise the octane to a maximum of 87). Do media touch upon it ? No. They go abt lead in paint - it winds up the "economy". Keeps sheeple busy testing paints while they drive SUVs.
Re: sushi, in Japan and elsewhere: since I had to research Minamata, didn't touch it anymore. By the time problem is obvious, the accumulation is devastating. We are a brainless species, dumb animaux. I need some vodka now - to 'sterilize' myself. This does not change the heavy metals levels. Just the perception.
mudshark @ 69:
yes, but how ? Size not always the indicator, only experienced fishermen/anglers might know.. Kind of too late to ask the fish abt their age once caught ? Maybe should be waterboarded to speak out ?
Due to recent health problems, I've had to give up sushi. However, I'd usually order shrimp tempura rolls, amaebi (sweet shrimp), and/or unagi (river eel, not "a state of total awareness"). I don't care for tuna of any kind, including otoro, chutoro and maguro. I won't even eat Jessica Simpson's favorite "chicken"!
Peter G @ 74:
Most of the problems ARE caused by the "free market principles" cuz most of these things you talked about, would not be happening if the market in North America and Europe were not demanding it. Sweatshops only exist because those nations only have collective ownership and not free market principles? Hardly.
Concerned Canuck,
One of my biggest food worries (among so many) happen to involve national restaurant chains like Applebies or Fridays or Bennigans.
Where does their food come from? Um...on trucks to be warmed up.
Frightening when you think about it.
I helped in an undercover video in Wallmart and they sell all of these chain food restaurants in the FROZEN FOOD SECTION.
YIKES.
What do your kids eat?
Blaming Freddie Mercury for poisoning your sushi is really unfair. The man's been dead for almost two decades now.
Andre @ 73:
Err, at least you didn't call it Frisco. We hate it when people call it San Fran, but hate it even more when someone calls it Frisco. "Esseff" or "SF" is what most of us are comfortable with.
No paulbots? Shocking. Where is your deregulation messiah now?
With all of the foods being imported into this country and only having enough FDA inspectors to examine 1% of it, you have to take other protective measures.
http://www.promolifenews.com/?p=34
Having posted this though you have to research these supplements very carefully to look for drug interactions and toxicity levels if any. Don't just start popping these things like crazy out of fear... do your homework www.LEF.org is a good place to start with their searchable database.
I don't think the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency article (the how "mercury got into the tuna in the first place." link at the top) did a thorough job explaining how mercury gets into fish. While not mentioned, forest fires are shown in the graphic as being equal to coal burning plants. Almost makes the situation sound natural.
Forest fires don't contribute. They are mercury traps just like top level food chain fish. Left out was how mercury got into the trees. For that I'd point to this article which notes:
Without noting this I can see some poo-pooing the problem as being "natural" and no big deal.
phantom @ 82:
Shocking it is. Maybe went to have some Freddie Mercury sushi? All you hear is radio GA-GA ..
Eat Veggie Sushi.
Just as good and no mercury.