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January 12, 2000
WHALES ARE ACCUMULATING MORE TOXINS IN THEIR FLESH AS SEA WATER BECOMES MORE POLLUTED.  This
unfortunate situation has a good side, however.  The people of Japan are beginning to question the safety of eating whale flesh.  Sales have already slumped since Japanese and American scientists found dangerous levels of chemicals and heavy metals in half the 100 samples of whale flesh being sold in for human consumption in restaurants and markets.  The result was that many stores, including one 300-store
supermarket chain, stopped selling whale meat.

In addition, the scientists found that 25% of the samples purported to be "whalemeat" were actually dolphin and that 0.5% were from highly endangered humpback and sperm whales.
About half of all the samples proved to be contaminated with heavy metals or dangerous chemicals - including  mercury, dioxins, DDT and PCBs - above the maximum levels allowed for human consumption under Japanese and international standards.

They also found that a quarter of the samples were sold under false
pretences, in fact containing 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. More than three-quarters of these mis-advertised products proved to be for human consumption.

Japan's Fisheries Agency insisted then that whale flesh sold to consumers was not seriously contaminated. But in November, a separate study by the country's official Environment Agency confirmed that whales and dolphins  were highly polluted. Further research suggested, in the words of one scientist, that eating just  three ounces of dolphin meat or one ounce of liver "would cause significant health problems".

Meanwhile, a seven-year study of children in the Faroe Islands has found  that those whose mothers had eaten contaminated whalemeat during pregnancy  were much more likely to suffer brain and heart damage.
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Source: The Independent - London  Publication date: Jan 09, 2000

THE WHALE may finally be saved from hunters - through being poisoned.  Contamination from the pollution of the world's seas appears to be succeeding where environmentalists had failed. The people of Japan, the world's main whaling nation, are at last questioning the hunting of the leviathans after a major food scare.

After high levels of dangerous heavy metals and chemicals were found in whale flesh, Japanese scientists advised against eating it, so sales
slumped.   Now, Japanese retailers - including one 300-branch supermarket chain - have  started removing all whale flesh from their shelves after the scientists recommended an "immediate ban on the sale of all contaminated products".

Research has shown that 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, and can cause serious human health problems, including damage to the immune  system, sterility, and "gender-bender" hormone disruptions.

This development is an extraordinary twist to one of the oldest and
most  bitter environmental battles. Conservationists have been campaigning to stop whaling for more than 30 years, after unrestrained hunting brought  many species, such as blue fin and humpback, to the verge of extinction.

Nearly 20 years ago, the environmentalists succeeded - in one of their
first great international victories - in persuading the body that
regulates world whaling, the International Whaling Commission, to impose an indefinite moratorium.  But, ever since, Japan has exploited a loophole, which allows whaling for  "scientific purposes", to enable it to continue its annual hunt and provide  whale flesh for its people.

Meanwhile, it has been gradually winning the argument for a resumption of  commercial whaling as the species it hunts - the minke whale - is abundant  and would be in no danger of being seriously depleted. Japan has also used  financial aid to persuade developing countries to join the whaling  commission and support it.


The discovery of the contamination of whale flesh, however, threatens to  undermine its campaign. Last year, two Japanese toxicologists and two geneticists from Harvard University analyzed more than 100 samples of whale flesh bought in restaurants, shops and markets across Japan - in a study coordinated by the British-based Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and the Swiss Coalition for the Protection of Whales.

They were astonished at the results. About half of all the samples
proved  to be contaminated with heavy metals or dangerous chemicals - including mercury, dioxins, DDT and PCBs - above the maximum levels allowed for human consumption under Japanese and international standards.

They also found that a quarter of the samples were sold under false
pretences, in fact containing 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. More than three-quarters of these mis-advertised  products proved to be for human consumption.

Japan's Fisheries Agency insisted then that whale flesh sold to consumers was  not seriously contaminated. But in November, a separate study by the  country's official Environment Agency confirmed that whales and dolphins  were highly polluted.  Further research suggested, in the words of one scientist, that eating just  three ounces of dolphin meat or one ounce of liver "would cause significant  health problems".

Meanwhile, a seven-year study of children in the Faroe Islands has found  that those whose mothers had eaten contaminated whalemeat during pregnancy  were much more likely to suffer brain and heart damage.  A coalition of citizens' groups was formed last month to press the Japanese  government to take immediate action. The fishing industry is deeply worried  that the outrage will cause more cancellations of orders and drive down the price of meat from the whales caught by "scientific" whaling, dealing a devastating blow to the
industry.
Publication date: Jan 09, 2000
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