A dozen years ago, Robert F. Kennedy Jr – a short-lived candidate for the 2024 US presidential election, now aligned with Donald Trump – suffered from serious cognitive problems, mental confusion, memory loss, etc. To the point of thinking that he has, in addition to his recurring heart problems, a brain tumor. In May, the New York Times revealed that traces of a parasitic worm had been found in a corner of his brain, but his doctors suspected that the most likely cause of his problems was much less dramatic. As he explained to the American newspaper, it is due to his excessive love for tuna sandwiches, a fish that is among the most contaminated with methylmercury, a powerful neurotoxin. How can even excessive consumption of such a common food cause effects of this magnitude? In a report, published on Tuesday, October 29, the Bloom association gives a series of response elements that refer to“a real health scandal”according to its president, Claire Nouvian.
The ocean defense association has analyzed nearly 150 cans of tuna and uses these results to advocate for a reduction in the authorized levels of mercury in the meat of this fish, the most consumed in Europe. One in ten cans analyzed exceeds this limit value for fresh tuna, that is, 1 milligram per kilo (mg/kg) in Europe. According to Bloom, this is not intended to protect public health, but rather to maximize the fish’s compliance rate to keep it on the market. With the consequence, according to Bloom, of excessive exposure of the population, with respect to the health thresholds established by the authorities, which estimate the amount of mercury that can be absorbed each week without risk to health: 1.3 micrograms per kilo of body weight. per week (μg/kg bw/wk) for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). And almost half for its American counterpart, 0.7 µg/kg bw/week.
Mercury, a heavy metal resulting from the combustion of coal, mining and certain industrial activities, is dispersed in the environment, continues its journey in the oceans, where it is transformed into methylmercury, and accumulates in marine organisms, especially at the top of the food chain. It then ends up in the bodies of tuna, shark and swordfish consumers.
Sometimes severe cognitive disorders.
In France, the biomonitoring study published in 2021 by Public Health France (SPF) indicates that population contamination is widespread. As to whether this contamination is problematic or not, it depends on the safety thresholds considered. According to the thresholds adopted by the SPF, mercury levels found in hair only indicate a risk for 0.8% of adults, 2.1% of women of childbearing age and 2.4% of children. (from 6 to 17 years old). Applying the thresholds of the American authorities, 27.4% of adults and 7.6% of children between 6 and 17 years old are at risk in France. The study does not have data on children under 6 years old, the most vulnerable population.
You have 76.43% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
