How About A Little Mercury With Your Shrimp?

After a bad week where I had the nosy redneck version of Papa Smurf hassle me over an issue at work that I had already resolved with my boss my easygoing and good natured disposition was severely stressed. The sorry shithead so ruffled my feathers that it has derailed what little talent I have in writing my normal drivel resulting in a desperate attempt to get my normal six posts out a month. Well, at least I still have my devilish good looks and cultured wit to carry me through.

Okay now dammit, you can all stop laughing on that last one.

Of a far more important concern is the nature of the lingering effects of the huge cluster fuck out in the Gulf of Mexico which may result in all sorts of nasty diseases that will effect everyone who lives in that area and eats the seafood. But we are apparently all small potatoes in the greater scheme of multi-national corporations, hail the glories of capitalism. Hell, that fucker Hayward even got his life back, good for him but I bet he will never eat the seafood.

Heavy metals go untested in Gulf seafood

Experts urge caution for pregnant women and young children

Despite claims from President Barack Obama and federal officials that Gulf seafood is safe and poses no long-term health risks, no testing for heavy metals is occurring in fish or shellfish in areas that have been reopened to commercial and recreational fishing.

Both National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and FDA officials told Raw Story that fish and shellfish being tested for the purpose of reopening waters to commercial and recreational fishing are not being tested for heavy metals.

Whenever Raw Story raised the lack of heavy metal testing, FDA and NOAA officials routinely referenced a “Mussel Watch” program. Yet neither agency seemed to have a clear grasp on how this program actually collected useful data related to the heavy metal levels in the seafood currently being fished and sold to market.

aw Story examined the “Mussel Watch” page on NOAA’s website and found no clear additional protocol in place for protecting the public from these contaminants in their seafood due to the BP oil spill.

This is particularly troubling to scientists and public health experts.

Gina Solomon, a doctor and public health expert in the department of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, told Raw Story, “What we would expect is the heavy metal levels in Gulf seafood will be starting to creep up as a result of the spill.”

Solomon, a co-author on last month’s peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study on Gulf seafood safety and also a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), cautioned, “And so right now, we might not be seeing elevated levels, but right now is the time to collect baseline information and to develop a sampling plan for monitoring into the future to make sure that levels don’t continue to rise and cause trouble months or years from now.”

She said it’s important to remember that fish and shellfish in the Gulf of Mexico already contained certain levels of heavy metals prior to the BP oil spill, which, at its height, gushed oil at an estimated rate equivalent to the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster – previously the largest in US history – every four days.