Mind Your Mercury

Where can you find the most toxic non-radioactive element on Earth? In your sushi. Here’s why: Coal-powered electricity plants release mercury into our rivers and oceans where fish live; then we eat the fish. During the two-to-three month period that mercury stays in our bodies it can affect sensory perception, memory and motor skills. High levels of mercury can damage the brain, heart, kidney, lungs and immune system. Serious mercury poisoning can result in mental retardation, cerebral palsy and dementia. Kinda makes you want to rethink that yellowtail, doesn’t it? According to the EPA, all fish now contain mercury, but these contain the highest concentrations: tuna, shark, swordfish, mackerel and tilefish. Lowest? Shrimp, salmon, pollock and catfish. Download the Seafood Watch guide to get the latest.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2014 at 9:05 am. It is filed under Sustainability and tagged with fish, mercury, pescatarian, vegan, vegetarian. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.