Every can of tuna contains mercury

There’s mercury in every can of tuna—and the fish has three times the level of the neurotoxin as other varieties, such as cod.

Bloom, the environmental pressure group, discovered mercury in each of the 150 cans of tuna they purchased in five European countries—from England, Germany, Italy, France and Spain.  The highest level was in a can bought in a Paris store and had a mercury content of 3.9mg/kg, which is 13 times higher than safe upper limits permitted for other fish.

“Because of the dangers posed by regular ingestion of mercury, even in small doses, all tins exceeding the 0.3 ng/kg limit for other fish should be banned,” said a Bloom spokesperson.

Years of lobbying by the tuna industry has granted the fish a far higher safety limit and has an ‘acceptable’ mercury threshold that is three times higher than for other fish.  “The danger threshold was not set to protect human health but solely to protect the financial interests of the tuna industry.

“The thresholds, as set by the public authorities in collusion with the tuna lobby, are leading to widespread contamination of the population, with potentially serious health consequences,” the spokesperson added.

The World Health Organization has listed mercury among the 10 chemical substances, along with asbestos and arsenic, that pose the greatest risk to health.

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