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Blake Ito’s Viewpoint on Methyl mercury poisoning
From Eating Tuna
Blake M. Ito
San Francisco State University
Author Note
Blake M. Ito, Department of Business, San Francisco State University
Blake Ito is currently (2015) at the Department of Business, San Francisco State
University.
This research was supported in part by Prime Time Seafood Company.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Blake Ito, Department of
Business, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, and Ca 94132
Contact: blakeitotaquito@gmail.com
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Abstract
With the help of several online published articles and personal experience in the field of
the seafood industry, this paper is going to explore a debate that addresses the matters of fishing
and consuming certain species of fish. My research will display the societal, economical, health
and practical standpoints of my topic and hopefully clarify the public’s view on the consumption
of tuna.
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Introduction
Since the past decade there have been debates on whether mercury in tuna is a “serious
health hazard”. The easiest way to explain this debate in a nutshell is comparable to the conflict
that the USA had with the USSR in the 1950’s, known as “The Red Scare”. During “The Red
Scare” citizens and the government feared that the communists were dangerous, so the people
hid in their homes. The result of the conflict became a big bluff on the communist Russian side.
Like communist Russians during the “Red Scare”, there are currently environmental
organizations out there that use fear based topics to get their message across the public. On the
contrary, tuna is not only safe and tasty to eat, but it is an essential health beneficiary. Since
people don’t consume enough fresh tuna in their regular diets, this current decade could be
referred to as “The Mercury Scare”.
Literature Review
With a world that is ever changing and growing in population, people must be efficient
with our planet’s resources. Fish in particular, is a resource that has been under debate and close
regulations for years. Although there are millions of people that depend on fish for either
sustenance or a source of income, there are many who believe that fishing is too destructive to
the environment and its surroundings.
“One of the biggest problems we have in Western culture is that we have too few omega3 fatty acids in our diet,” says William Harris, director of metabolism and nutrition research at
Sanford Research, University of South Dakota (2013). Omega-3 fatty acids are imperative to the
human body, since they are used for the development and maintenance of the brain and the body.
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Omega-3’s can be found in other food categories besides fish, such as nuts, seeds, and plants too.
A large faction of people chooses alternative omega-3 diets rather than fish.
The debate that recurs in today’s media is that environmental lobbyist are formulating
political strategies to get certain fishes off the market for consumption with topics like, methyl
mercury poisoning, radioactive fish, and extreme overfishing. On the other side of the debate,
organizations like the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) say that fish and shellfish contain
high-quality protein and other essential nutrients, are low in saturated fat, and contain omega-3
fatty acids (March 2004). In addition, even some seafood companies like Prime Time Seafood in
particular, call “BS” on the notion that mercury in tuna is a serious health concern in our society.
(September 24, 2013).
The debate of whether certain fishes should be on the market or what regulations should
be applied to them is crucial to the global development of the world. In third world countries
like: (Fiji, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, Mexico, etc.), rely on the seafood industry heavily,
and certain low regulatory environmental species quotas can end a fishing season and leave
many jobless and even homeless for months at a time. On the contrary, environmentalists feel
that if these countries continue fishing, then our oceans will be depleted of its resources and
environmental beauty.
All in all, this essay is going to unearth and expose the points/truths that society needs to
understand about the current status on the consumption of certain types fish.
Extent of the Issue
During the earliest ages of my life I remember being fed seafood all the time. Nowadays,
Seafood is one of my obsessions in life. I have always been around the stuff mainly because of
my father’s occupation, he began his career as a marine biologist that worked in commercial
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aquaculture, and has owned a seafood importer/wholesale business out of Los Angeles for the
past 25 years. My whole life, Rex Ito, my dad, has consistently educated me on the truths of the
oceans, seafood, and aquaculture. It wasn’t until my junior year of High School, in my Marine
Biology and Oceanography class, where I learned how much misinformation could be taught in
public schools.
Once upon a morning, I had a Marine Biology and Oceanography class taught by my
former teacher named Mrs. Malone. The class lessons previously to this one had been actually
quite enticing, because she had lectured on some interesting subjects regarding pollution in our
oceans. But on today's agenda, Malone spoke to the class on the dangers of mercury found in
tuna and the potential health hazards from consuming this type of fish. As she started her speech,
she proceeded to project slides that stated, “Avoid eating Blue fin Tuna, Yellow fin Tuna, or Big
Eye Tuna. All these species contain high levels of mercury in their flesh.”
It took a couple minutes for me to gather my thoughts as I sit in my chair frustrated at
what I just witnessed… complete mistruths, being taught in publically-funded schools. I objected
to what she had projected in the front of class by simply asking her, “How many people do you
know who have either got sick or have died from methyl mercury found in seafood?”
I guess my question had impressed her and my classmates that listened to me, because
she had no answer and my fellow classmates began to shoot stares at me as if I was half crazy to
refute Mrs. Malone’s lesson plan; the other half of the class was interested in the argument,
because I had a point. Although I did get my point across, the lesson plan did get interrupted by
my objections, as a result of the chaos that resulted she threw me and my desk outside of the
classroom.
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As I sit outside, by myself, punished for speaking what I knew as truths, I recollected my
objections and became clear of one thing: Teachers shouldn’t be allowed to teach false
information to young absorbent minds. Being told that you could potentially end up sick or dead
from eating tuna is crazy, obviously fear-based and simply a wrong statement about the
detrimental effects caused by minute doses of Methyl mercury. Plus, she doesn’t realize that if
people stop eating tuna, all sushi bars, restaurants, and seafood retail establishments will be
affected, as well as tuna fishermen and all the related industries that make their living from
catching tuna in our oceans. For most fish eaters out there, it will be a sad day when tuna is no
longer available.
The bell rings. I pick up my desk and move it back inside the building that I was kicked
out. She stares at me and I stare right back. Not only do I lock eyes, but I go up to her and say
that I am ever so sorry for the conflict earlier in the period, and whether she thinks it would be a
good idea to have my father come in and speak on behalf of the tuna industry and the issue of
methyl mercury content in fish. She astonishingly agreed to my proposal. Weeks later, my father
and I gave a speech side by side in Malone’s class.
Not only did we educate my whole class on the subject, but my dad and I actually
selected a tuna from his business and prepared it sashimi style (raw), and sampled it out in the
class. Everyone said that they never knew fish could be prepared with so little ingredients and
taste so delicious. By the end of our speech, I was absolutely convinced that the majority of the
classroom was not going to think twice about mercury poisoning after my dad and I came in and
told the class the straight facts, without any holes in our info.
All in all, being kicked out of a class for advocating some truths about tuna only fuels a
fire to spread the word that people should actually eat tuna regularly in their diet.
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How I feel about this whole scenario reminds me of a story I had read in the book
Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing: Rereading America. The story was called,
“Ragged Dick”, by Horatio Alger, and in this 1868 story a teenager is taking a ferry boat from
New York City to a surrounding town. The ferry boat tips to one side during the journey and out
falls a young boy into the frigid bay. While the boy is struggling and possibly drowning in the
water, the teenager sees no one out of the crowd of passengers that are willing assist him.
Instinctively, he jumps into the freezing water and saves the boy’s life. Following his great deed,
the boy’s father gifts the teenager with a new set of clothes, and a high paying position at his
firm. Similar to my situation when I spoke up against Mrs. Malone, the teenager stuck up for
what he judged was the right thing to do and save the boy, regardless of all the spectators doing
nothing amongst the commotion. The bottom line is that personal intervention and good
judgment must occur in a situation before the worst happens. In the case of the teenager, if
nothing is done the boy drowns to death. In my case, Mrs. Malone scares all her classes from
improving their health by eating tuna.
The extent of the issue dates back to a government article from 2004; a highly publicized
advisory told the dangers of consuming tuna with “high” levels of mercury. Since then, studies
have actually shown that the benefits from eating tuna far outweigh any dangers that mercury
content in tuna poses (Mozaffarian 2008). In fact, the Omega-3 fatty acids (unsaturated fats)
found in tuna can even extend the length of one’s life. The unsaturated fats can lower blood
pressure, reduce blood clotting, decrease triglycerides, reduce irregular heartbeats, significantly
decrease stroke and heart attack, and lastly, it improves cognitive development amongst children.
The public may ask, “What are the conflicts of consuming high levels of mercury?” Well,
methyl mercury poisoning symptoms will be sensory disturbances and affect a person
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neurologically. In addition, childbearing mothers may want to stay away from certain types of
fish like Sharks, Swordfish, and Tilefish, which will have higher concentrations of methyl
mercury, because the mother’s fetus could face neurological problems in development. Mercury
exposure slows down the production of myelin in the fetal brain which causes the
communication between the nerve impulses and the body part to either slow down, or be
misdirected. Though mercury overload could damage the still-developing nervous system of a
baby, the scientific consensus was that for the average Joe taking in the average amount of fish,
heavy with metals or not, it posed no undue threat (Song 1). The 1.0ppm mercury threshold
established by the FDA for fish is in fact ten times the known concentration in which mercury
poisoning can occur–which means one would have to consume TEN times the amount of fish at
1.0ppm to be affected by methyl-mercury poisoning. (Rex 1).
The take home message is that unless someone is a developing fetus, then they have
nothing to worry about when eating tuna.
One of the worst parts about this whole mercury controversy is that it affects the seafood
industry, especially those involved in the tuna trade and distribution. As soon as the media began
questioning tuna, the public consumes relatively less tuna in sushi bars, restaurants and markets.
When the well-meaning, but misinformed public eats less sashimi, more tuna is destined to the
canned tuna industry. Canning tuna is not the best way to get the most out of the fish, since the
meat loses vitamins, minerals, and taste in the process. A significant observation is that canned
tuna costs 1/10 the price of fresh sashimi-grade tuna, and we are not achieving maximum
utilization of this magnificent fish species. Fish eaters like me built up a frustration in regards to
the announcement of 2004, because it can affect seafood businesses like my father’s business,
but that isn’t the extent of it—tuna import companies bring many jobs to rural countries that are
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dependent on maritime exported goods for income. To lose commerce and livelihood of
hundreds or thousands of jobs due to scientifically inaccurate claims is frustrating.
More importantly, this announcement and position regarding mercury provided a
disservice to the public by denying them a necessary and important source of omega-3 and
otherwise healthy marine protein so crucial in our diets.
Repercussion
“Too Much Tuna Can Cause Mercury Poisoning In Children”- Medical News Today
(2004)
“High Mercury Levels Are Found in Tuna Sushi” - New York Times (2004)
People truly don’t understand the repercussions from alarming announcements like these.
As if tuna had a nasty yelp review, people nearly stopped eating tuna around the time of the
“Mercury Scare”. When people stopped eating tuna, the seafood market began to feel the pain.
Globally speaking, consider that tuna is the lifeline to many hard workers income. Overall, these
announcements are extremely frustrating to me, since most of them have been recently proved
untrue.
Although public opinion regarding the issue of mercury in tuna was prevalent, at the
same time the overall wisdom of the market—and the fact that tuna is flat-out delicious, enabled
the industry to survive. There is also a stable portion of this country and the world’s population
who have been eating tuna for generations who possess overwhelming wisdom that eating tuna is
healthy and wholesome.
Like I stated in the paragraph above this one, the worst part about this whole mercury
controversy is that it affects the whole seafood industry and distorts the truth about eating tuna.
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As soon as the media began questioning tuna, people questioned eating tuna in sushi bars and
buying tuna in markets. Seafood businesses like Prime Time Seafood Inc. (my father’s business)
provides high-quality fish to the U.S. market, employs people and generates business in related
industries (restaurants, retail, airfreight, trucking, customs clearance, box companies,
refrigeration, etc. From the supply side, 90% of the seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported.
Many of these supplier nations have fishing fleets and tuna ranching operations that provide tens
of thousands of much-needed jobs, of many Third World countries. These people are dependent
on maritime exported goods for income. A great portion of these countries are directly affected
when tuna cannot be fished, or the market is depressed.
“Mercury” is a powerful word. The devastating effects of severe mercury poisoning that
occurred in the Japanese city of Minami in the 1950’s provided shocking and lasting images of
deformed and severely mentally damaged offspring. The unfortunate people of this fish-eating
village were exposed to methyl mercury levels several magnitudes, exponentially higher being
dumped into the bay from industries ignorant to the dangers, and at far higher levels being
regulated today. The lessons learned from this incident have been addressed several decades ago,
and strict regulations have been implemented since. But there are concentrations and there are
concentrations. Exposure of minute concentrations of mercury is in everyday life, and absolutely
do not pose a health hazard. Fortunately for those who want to perpetuate the scare, just the
mention of the word “mercury” will draw a negative gut-reaction from the public. Unfortunately
once the public associates the word mercury with tuna enough times, it becomes embedded in
their minds that tuna = mercury = bad. I cannot name, in fact it is almost a 100% surety, that
when I talk about the family tuna business, the topic of mercury comes up. It’s as if people have
no other topic to discuss, even though there is literally not one example of sickness--and much
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less death, from eating mercury from fish. Heart disease, smoking, lack of exercise, stress, and
poor diet constitute 99% of the health concerns of our society. The theme of mercury is a
distraction to real health issues, and cannot be even measured in the graph of real health
concerns.
Counter
Although Tuna may offer many health and economic benefits, there are counters that
exist in the argument that oppose the fishing of Tuna. For example, environmentalist believes
that the fishing industry needs to stop drag and gill netting Tuna. Unlike long liners and
traditional fisherman that use hooks and bait, people have developed harmful, but efficient ways
in wrapping up schools of Tuna. Gill netting is harmful for any marine animals that like to travel
alongside Tuna schools. Animals like sea turtles, Dolphins, and even whales, have been subject
to by catch from the dangerous netting technique. Furthermore, in temperate and tropical areas
where Tuna could veer closer to more shallow waters, local fisherman will drop a net to the
oceans floor, and then drag the net behind the boat hoping to catch something like a Tuna or a
fish of worth. The result of drag netting is devastating for the ecosystems affected by this
technique. Stingrays, crustaceans, sharks, sea turtles, dolphins, and non targeted marine animals
are all subjects to death from drag netting. Drag and Gill netting are both dangerous, because
they produce the most by catch.
Overall, too many fishermen have not learned what the detrimental effects of drag and
gill netting do to the ecosystem. Tuna can be fished efficiently across the globe, but only if
fisherman respect the Ocean and its ecosystems.
Refutation
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The methods receiving the most support are pole-and-line, where fishermen actually use
individual poles and hooks to catch tuna and FAD-free purse seining, where large nets are drawn
around free-swimming schools of tuna (Hollender 1). Purse seining rarely sees by catch, because
the nets allow the more intelligent animals like porpoises to find an exit at the surface of the net,
while the Tunas will school at the bottom of the net and become trapped. Both of these
techniques are great alternative solutions instead of drag and gill netting Tuna schools. In
addition, farm raising Tuna is becoming vastly popular all over the world. Our oceans will not be
able to feed everyone in the future, unless we continue developing sustainable fish
farms/ranches. Ranching Tuna is a smart protein alternative for the future, since it only takes 3-4
years for a Tuna to weigh 60-80 lbs; Tuna have a food conversion that is more efficient than all
forms of protein. Tuna can be harvested at years 3-5, depending on how much time a rancher
wants to grow them. Growing Tuna is going currently the most effective way of production and
more countries need to invest in the technique.
Conclusion
In order for something to be labeled as a “health hazard” it must have factual evidence to
support this heavy claim. Tuna is not a “health hazard”. In fact, no matter where the fish is
located, Tuna benefits people’s health, income, and taste preference. The negative effects and
repercussions of the “The Mercury Scare” have not only hurt hard working seafood businesses,
but have also stirred confusion amongst absorbent minds. When people begin to eat more Tuna,
the standard of Tuna will rise for seafood related restaurants and businesses. Lastly, In the long
run, I imagine a world where we are achieving maximum utilization of this magnificent creature.
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References
I. Calculate Mercury Content in Fish. (2013, August 16). Retrieved March 18, 2015, from
https://seaturtles.org/programs/mercury/
II. Health Advantages of Eating Tuna. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2015, from
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/health-advantages-eating-tuna-5706.html
IV. Hollender, J. (n.d.). A Safer Way to Catch Tuna. Retrieved May 8, 2015, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-hollender/a-safer-way-to-eat-tuna_b_1291825.html
Jeffrey Hollander
III. Ito, R. (2014, August 10). Information & Blog | Prime Time Seafood Inc. Retrieved March
18, 2015, from http://primetimeseafoodinc.com/?page_id=24
V. Ito, R. (2015, May 3). Methyl Mercury Poisoning [Telephone interview].
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Appendix