Poison in our cans? A report by the NGO Bloom published this Tuesday, October 29, shows that canned tuna is largely contaminated with mercury, a substance harmful to health.
“Bloom randomly selected 148 cans in five European countries (France, Germany, England, Spain and Italy) and had them analyzed by an independent laboratory: 100% of the cans are contaminated with mercury,” reveals the ocean protection NGO. , which partnered for this investigation with the consumer advocacy organization Foodwatch.
Toxic derivative of mercury.
Mercury is present “naturally in small quantities in the environment,” details the National Health Security Agency (Handles), but also released “by human activities” such as “mining”, “metallurgy” or “fossil fuels”. It is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) among the ten substances of greatest concern for public health.
In the ocean, mercury mixes with bacteria and becomes methylmercury. It is this even more toxic derivative that Bloom and Foodwatch found in large quantities in cans of tuna.
The two NGOs denounce a “public health scandal.” And with good reason, “methylmercury is toxic to the central nervous system of human beings, especially during intrauterine development and during early childhood,” according to ANSES.
Behavioral disorders
“This substance can therefore cause mild behavioral disorders or developmental delays in children exposed in utero or after birth, even in the absence of signs of toxicity in the mother,” the health safety agency states.
The symptoms of mercury poisoning are multiple: tremors, insomnia, memory loss, neuromuscular effects, headaches, and motor and cognitive dysfunctions, according to the WHO.
To quantify the exposure of the human body to mercury, “there are two methods of analysis, urine or hair,” Alain Manceau, a researcher at the ENS chemistry laboratory in Lyon, explains to BFMTV.com.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) estimates that the amount of mercury that can be consumed each week without risk to health is 1.3 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per week.
Predatory fish in the viewfinder
Predatory fish, such as tuna, are at greater risk due to the “bioaccumulation” phenomenon. “They accumulate mercury (present in the ocean, editor’s note) without being able to eliminate it and they also ingest the mercury that their own prey has accumulated, so the higher an animal is in the food chain, the more mercury it contains.” Dr. Aurel Guedj, BFMTV health advisor, explains on our antenna.
Chemist Alain Manceau states that you should “eat tuna in moderation.” “It is better to favor small species of tuna and avoid larger species, such as bluefin tuna,” he advises.
However, “this should not discourage people from consuming seafood, which contains selenium, an essential trace element for our metabolism and which, paradoxically, detoxifies mercury,” the scientist emphasizes.
For this reason, ANSES recommends consuming “fish twice a week combining an oily fish with a high content of omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, sardines, mackerel, herring) and other fish (hake, hake, cod, sole, etc.)” .
For pregnant and breast-feeding women and young children (under 3 years of age), the agency recommends “limiting the consumption of wild predatory fish, which are likely to be highly contaminated: tuna, bonito, stingray, bream, sea bass (bass ), monkfish (monkfish), emperor, grenadier halibut, sablefish, pike, etc.
Source: BFM TV