Whale Meat May Be Hazardous to Your Health

In the world of scientific research about the hypothetical health effects of mercury, two continuing studies stand alone as the "gold standards." They both follow hundreds of children whose mothers had elevated mercury levels during pregnancy. One study, conducted in the Seychelles Islands (near Madagascar), has found absolutely no evidence that mercury in fish (even in huge amounts) harms the developing brain. A competing study, conducted in Denmark's Faroe Islands, claims to have found a subtle, almost imperceptible weakness in some kids' mental development.

There is one huge difference between the two competing studies. Research subjects in the Seychelles eat lots of fish -- about 10 times what Americans typically consume. Faroe Islanders, on the other hand, eat some fish but lots of whale meat and blubber. And unlike fish, whale meat is contaminated with so many pollutants that isolating mercury's effects is impossible. The obvious conclusion is that PCBs, DDT, and other insecticides -- heavily concentrated in whales but not in fish -- are responsible for whatever the Faroe researchers observed. The Seychelles study shows conclusively that mercury isn't the problem.

In 2004 the lead Faroe Islands researcher acknowledged in The Boston Herald that the fish his research subjects eat isn't dangerous to anyone. "Fish consumption," he wrote, "does not harm Faroese children. In the contrary [sic], the fish consumption most likely is beneficial to their health." Nevertheless, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency relied primarily on the study of Faroe-Island whale eaters (and ignored the Seychelles research) when it calculated how much fish intake could theoretically harm the American diet.

The latest findings from the ongoing Seychelles study were presented at the February 2006 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. After tracking 770 children for nearly 16 years, scientists found that mercury exposure from eating fish produced no negative effects at all.

But you'd never know it if you listen to environmental activist groups like Oceana, the Environmental Working Group, the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, Greenpeace, and the Sierra Club. The so-called "proof" that the fish you eat can harm you is a study that actually measured the harmful effects of the cocktail of pollutants found in whale meat.

If you don't eat whale, don't worry. Fish is good for you. Needless anxiety isn't.

Click here for an interactive calculator that shows how much of your favorite fish you can eat safely. Be prepared -- it's a lot.