Both the European Union and the US Administration, as well as international bodies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), have recognised the risk to health posed by the concentrations of mercury and methyl mercury in different species of commercial fish such as sharks, catfish, swordfish and marlin.

The Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection of the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have all advised against the consumption of these fish by at-risk people, including children and pregnant or breastfeeding women, amongst others.

The way in which this food alert is being communicated to the general public differs enormously from one country to another. For example, while the British health authorities have made all this information available on their official website, the Spanish government, through the Spanish Food Safety Agency (AESA), has decided it will only let the general public know about these results via healthcare professionals.

Oceana is working to ensure that this crucial consumer information is transparent, public and easily accessible. Preventing or limiting its knowledge by the general public can only lead to distrust and alarm, when, on the other hand, rational knowledge would enable Europeans to take an informed decision on how to manage their diets without misgivings or over-dramatisation.

One of the main sources of anthropogenic mercury (i.e. originating from human activities) is the chlorine-alkaline industry, which uses the obsolete mercury cell technology to produce chlorine products. Most European plants already have technologies in place that do not need to use this dangerous heavy metal, but there are still some 40 plants making use of this unnecessary method.

The Oslo and Paris Conventions (OSPAR) for the protection of the North-East Atlantic agreed to the progressive elimination of these plants across the whole of Atlantic Europe by 2010, and the EU has decided that the elimination of these plants in member states should be brought forward to 2007. Meanwhile, through its association, Eurochlor, the chlorine industry, with an annual turnover of 240,000 million euros, is trying to delay these measures and continue emitting dangerous amounts of mercury into the atmosphere, rivers and seas of the entire continent until 2025.

Oceana supports the EU’s proposal and firmly rejects any extension to the use of mercury cell technology, which can only be detrimental to the health of European citizens.

It is estimated that every year some 630,000 children are born in the United States with dangerous concentrations of mercury from this type of pollution. And in Europe this figure could well be higher.

Ask your government to keep you properly informed about these food alerts and to give you the opportunity to make an informed decision on how you want to manage your food intake and protect your health.

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