Wednesday September 24, 2008, 6:43 pm
A 'very' shocking situation...what IS the thinking here????

Thursday September 25, 2008, 2:46 am
thankz Sarah, pro-whaling nations insist that whale meat is healthier than beef. But the truth is that whales are particularly vulnerable to environmental contaminants, including organochlorines such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and dioxin and heavy metals, such as mercury and methylmercury. High levels of mercury appear to be present in whale meat sold widely as food in Japan, even in schools, with further sales of cheap whale meat to be sold on the menus of hospitals, bars and more schools.

Scientists warn that women and children are highly vulnerable and affected by the consumption of contaminated whale meat. Pregnant women consuming toxic whale meat place their babies and themselves in immediate danger.

Scientists examined the relation between the mercury concentrations in umbilical cord tissue with the methylmercury levels in the mother's hair and in the umbilical cord blood. The umbilical cord tissue was obtained from 50 births in the Faroe Islands where high methylmercury intake is caused by regularly eating a lot of pilot whale meat.

Minamata disease is the name given to the bad effects caused by methylmercury in Japanese people living on Minamata Bay Japan. These Japanese fishing villagers were severely poisoned with methylmercury by regularly eating a lot of fish locally caught in Minamata Bay Japan for a long time.

On one hand Japan markets whale meat az a health food, and on the other hand, they, and also Norway, have warnings for pregnant and breast feeding women against eating canned whale meat.

And all that, with their government's blessings.