This year the GotMercury.org Operation Safe Seafood project has tested over 100 samples of supermarket tuna and swordfish for mercury levels across the country. The mercury levels have been so alarming that we are issuing a warning to you not to eat tuna or swordfish. Some samples of swordfish and tuna contained levels 300% over federal mercury guidelines.
Even the much consumed canned tuna has been found to contain high levels of mercury. According to a new study, tuna accounts for over one-third of mercury exposure in the United States. Mercury levels vary by can and tuna species, so it is a toxic gamble whenever you open the can. To learn more please read the Operation Safe Seafood reports at www.gotmercury.org
Highly paid fish lobbyists skulking the halls of Congress don’t want you to know that the number one source of exposure to mercury is eating seafood. Or that mercury contamination of seafood is a widespread and serious public health problem – particularly for mothers and children. Mercury ingestion can lead to memory loss, developmental and learning disorders, vision loss, heart disease and in extreme cases, can even result in death. Yet seafood sellers are not required to warn buyers about mercury or label mercury-laden fish, even though the U.S. government issued a mercury-in-fish warning years ago.
Take these simple steps to protect yourself and your family from mercury in fish:
1. Sign the Seafood Pledge and vow to not eat the known high mercury fish: swordfish, tuna, shark, gulf tilefish and king mackerel. The pledge is also available in Spanish, Japanese, Vietnamese and Cantonese on our website.
2. Take canned tuna out of your children’s lunchboxes as Good Housekeeping magazine recently suggested.
3. If you must eat or serve tuna, drastically restrict your intake!
4. Donate to GotMercury.org so we can continue to expose the truth about mercury in fish.
Eating fish should not be a toxic gamble. To easily estimate your mercury exposure, go to the free online mercury-in-fish calculator at www.GotMercury.org or from your cell phone www.Gotmercury.mobi.
