LONDON:
As the world’s first legally binding international treaty to curb the
release of mercury
into the environment was formally signed today (October 9), a coalition
of NGOs urged countries to take immediate steps to address communities
at particular risk of contamination from the consumption of whale and
dolphin products.
“For
far too long, coastal communities around the world have been allowed to
consume the mercury-contaminated meat of whales, dolphins and
porpoises, many in ignorance of
the risks involved,” said Clare Perry, Senior Campaigner at the UK-and
US-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).
“Now
signatories to the new treaty must make communities in places as far
afield as Japan and the Faroe Islands properly aware of the very serious
risks to human health that
come from eating the meat of toothed cetaceans.”
The
Minamata Convention on Mercury was today adopted at the Conference of
Plenipotentiaries in Minamata and Kumamoto, Japan. The choice of venue
is significant as Minamata
was the scene of the world’s worst-ever incident of mass mercury
poisoning. The outbreak began in 1956 after methylmercury, discharged
into the sea from a Chisso Corporation factory, accumulated in fish and
shellfish and found its way into the human food chain.
Symptoms
of mercury poisoning can include loss of muscular coordination,
numbness in extremities, damage to hearing and speech, damage to foetal
development, paralysis and
death.
Dolphin
meat sold for consumption in Japan has been found to have mercury
levels as high as 98.9 parts per million, some 250 times higher than the
Government regulatory level
and higher than levels commonly found in the fish that caused Minamata
disease.
“Governments
have long been well aware of the dangers to human health that come from
eating whale and dolphin meat contaminated with mercury and other
pollutants, but in
some cases they have been neglectfully reticent when it comes to
properly protecting their citizens from the risks,” said Sakae Hemmi, of
Japanese NGO Elsa Nature Conservancy.
Based
on more than 20 years of medical studies in the Faroe Islands,
scientists now advise that the meat of pilot whales killed there is no
longer suitable for consumption
– but Government recommendations have failed to follow such advice. In 2012, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) passed a consensus resolution noting such concerns and urging governments
to take action.
Birgith Sloth, of the Society for the Conservation of Marine Mammals in Denmark,
added:
“Increasing awareness of the scientific advice has led to many in the
Faroes rejecting pilot whale meat. Despite this, more than 1,300 pilot
whales and white-sided
dolphins have been killed in the Faroe Islands in 2013, suggesting that
some people are consuming huge amounts of whale and dolphin meat. The
Faroese Government needs to follow the advice of its own scientists and
enforce a strict ban on consuming toxic whale
meat”.
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