MSNBC Sushi may be toxic, group warns

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Skip the sushi-it may be bad for you

Mercury levels dangerously high in some fish, California group warns

Reuters

Updated: 7:16 a.m. ET March 7, 2006

 

 

LOS ANGELES - Sushi is more popular than ever

before but eating it " has become the new Russian

roulette " in terms of safety, a group campaigning

against mercury in fish said Monday.

 

Eli Saddler of gotmercury.org, a campaign of

California-based Sea Turtle Restoration Project,

went to six top sushi restaurants in Los Angeles

to test mercury levels in the fish they serve.

 

" The level of mercury in tuna these restaurants

serve is so high they should be keeping this food

off their lists, " Saddler said. " Eating sushi has

become the new Russian roulette. "

 

Gotmercury.org proposes to take the study to

various cities across the United States and

educate sushi consumers on the risks of mercury

intake, which can permanently damage the nervous

system in fetuses and may cause temporary memory

loss in adults.

 

Tuna samples from six popular sushi restaurants

in Los Angeles were taken to a Southern

California lab for testing.

 

They returned an average mercury level of 0.721

parts per million, about 88 percent higher than

the reported Food and Drug Administration level

of 0.383 ppm for all fresh and frozen tuna.

 

A couple of samples had mercury levels the FDA

has declared " unsafe for anyone to eat, " Saddler

said.

 

Big-eyed tuna and blue and yellow-finned tuna are

the most popular varieties used in sushi

restaurants. Older and bigger fish are considered

best suited for sushi but Saddler said it was not

widely known that fish with longer lives carry

more mercury than others.

 

Studies show seafood like shrimp and salmon with

short life spans pose almost no risk of carrying

mercury.

 

Nobi Kusuhara, owner of Sushi Sasabune in Los

Angeles said even though the mercury level in the

samples was higher than he expected, sushi is

still healthy to eat.

 

" Even in Japan we have warnings out like FDA has

issued here, " Kusuhara said. " As long as

restaurants warn pregnant women and people to eat

smaller fish, it is definitely safer and

healthier than beef or chicken. "

 

Businesses with more than 10 employees are bound

under California law to post a mercury-in-seafood

warning if they serve or sell any seafood.

 

But Saddler said that, of the six restaurants

checked, only one had an explicit sign posted on

the door.

 

" There are cheap and easy ways to test fish, so

it should be done in the United States to protect

sushi consumers, " Saddler said.

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© 2006 MSNBC.com

 

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11708946/

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