Cuisine & Culture
http://cuisine-and-culture.un-interpreters.org Jan. Feb. 2011 Issue from Chiba
Greetings
from Chiba, Japan, colleagues and friends, with this special edition of
Cuisine & Culture, where the Editor
is working with a team of interpreter colleagues for the second session of the
Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to prepare a global legally binding
instrument on mercury, a hazardous substance/heavy metal with profound harmful
impact on both the environment and human health.
It is significant that this event is taking place in Japan, a country which has paid and is still paying a heavy price for its high speed economic development in the fifties and sixties of last century to the neglect of its environment with two lethal incidents of release of methyl mercury into Minamata Bay and the Agano River respectively, leaving in their wake thousands of victims of the infamous Minamata Disease.
Symptoms of Minamata Disease include numbness in the limbs, hand and leg tremors, a narrow visual field and movement disorder of eyeballs, speech disorder and learning disability, hearing impairment and loss of the sense of equilibrium. In severe cases, victims could lose their minds or consciousness, a case often proving lethal. In minor cases, symptoms of easy fatigue and loss of sense of taste and smell impede normal daily life.
In this special edition, colleagues and friends, Cuisine & Culture intends to alert you to the proven and known existence in certain food products, of methyl mercury, a highly toxic derivative of mercury whose ingestion can have serious harmful and medical effects as above illustrated so that special attention and care may be taken when we select the food items and beverages we regularly consume in our daily life.
Here comes the list of mercury containing or mercury tainted food stuff deserving our particular attention and care in terms of daily consumption.
Seafood
Seafood, with its great varieties and nutritional content and delightful taste, is always well liked and consumed in abundance, although numerous fish categories and species contain detectable levels of mercury. The types of seafood with the greatest concentrations of mercury are shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish. Tilefish, which is native to the Gulf of Mexico, contains the highest concentration at 1.450 parts per million. The mercury concentrations of shark and swordfish are 0.988 parts per million and 0.976 part per million, respectively. King mackerel contains a mercury concentration of 0.730 parts per million.
According to HealthObservatory.org, several popular cereal bars contain detectable levels of mercury due to the presence of high fructose corn syrup in their makeup. Quaker Oatmeal on the Go contains a mercury concentration of 350 parts per trillion, Nutri-Grain Strawberry Cereal Bars have a concentration of mercury equal to 180 parts per trillion, and Pop Tarts Frosted Blueberry has a mercury concentration of 100 parts per trillion. In
addition, some foods that contain high fructose corn syrup are also tainted with mercury.
The incorporation of high fructose corn syrup gives many varieties of syrups and jellies a detectable mercury concentration. The syrup with the highest concentration of mercury is Hershey's Chocolate Syrup at 257 parts per trillion. Market Pantry Grape Jelly contains a mercury concentration of 130 parts per trillion and Smucker's Strawberry Jelly has a concentration of 100 parts per trillion.
Many beverages that many of us consume on a regular basis have a detectable level of mercury. The most common beverage and the beverage with the highest concentration of mercury is Coca-Cola Classic. Coca-Cola classic has a mercury concentration of 62 parts per trillion; Pepsi Cola does not have a detectable mercury concentration. Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Drink and Nesquik Chocolate Milk have equal concentrations of mercury at 30 parts per trillion.
Mercury in
the Environment
Mercury, inherent in
some elemental metals, acts as a toxin to humans when it is present in the air
they breathe, allowing the poison to be absorbed through lung tissue. Mercury is
also found in some carbon fuel sources, including coal and crude oil. When
refined, it can escape into the air as an environmental toxin.
As is above illustrated, symptoms of exposure to elemental mercury in high
levels include uncontrollable muscle tremors, moodiness, anxiety, irritability
and even pronounced shyness. In addition, a toxic level of elemental mercury in
the body can cause insomnia, reduced cognitive function, weakness and muscle
wasting, and unexplained headaches.
Green Right Now.com: List: Foods with Detectable Mercury
Enjoy!
From
the Editor:
Cuisine & Culture obtains its materials
both online and off line with sources omitted for reason of simplicity but can
be provided upon request. Certain materials come in languages other than English
that Cuisine & Culture renders
into English to the best of its ability.
Cuisine & Culture is not in a position to verify the veracity of
the materials provided herein. Reader’s discretion is kindly advised.
A Special Acknowledgement of Thanks from Cuisine & Culture
Cuisine & Culture wishes to express its heartfelt thanks to Kevin Wambura of the ITS team here at UNON in Nairobi and Yawtsong Lee, a veteran interpreter at UN headquarters, now retired, for their technical advice and assistance and is hereby extremely pleased to retain them as Technical Advisors to Cuisine & Culture.
Cuisine & Culture