Toxins taint Norway's whale meat

In Japan, the sale of whale meat is not legal despite the high demand for it

By Environmental News Network staff

Norwegians may have good reason to watch what they eat.

Whale meat and blubber regularly consumed in Norway may contain some of the world's most dangerous toxins, the Worldwide Fund for Nature warns.

A recent WWF analysis of whale meat samples purchased in Norwegian markets in 1999 turned up more than 50 PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), including some chemicals that cause hormonal imbalance.

"If people regularly consume quantities of contaminated whale meat or blubber, they could be putting themselves and their children at risk," said Gordon Shepherd, WWF's director of international treaties. "What is more worrying is the long-term exposure to these chemicals and how they may cause an increase in cancer, affect the immune system and reduce sperm counts."

The findings were below the tolerable daily intake limit set by the Norwegian government, but conservationists say the results present another argument against the resumption of international trade in whale products.

The results come only a few months after the Convention for International Trade of Endangered Species in Flora and Fauna rejected Norway's proposal to reopen international trade in whale products. According to WWF, Norway continues to hold blubber stockpiles in the hope that the ban on whale meat products will be lifted.

Norwegian whalers can legally hunt, sell and consume whale meat and blubber. But beware: In random samples, dangerous toxins were found

"There is no market at all for the blubber in Norway," said Cassandra Phillips, WWF coordinator for whales. "It is frozen and stored, with the whalers hoping the restriction on international trade will be lifted so they can export it to Japan or Iceland where there is a market. In May 1999, the blubber stockpile was reported as being more than 600 tons."

According to Phillips, the average Norwegian consumes only seven ounces of whale meat per year.

A 1998 study by the International Whaling Commission determined levels of contamination among some marine mammals are so high that the animals would be classified as hazardous waste sites if they were on land.

Several reports circulated at the International Whaling Commission meeting in July about the level of contaminants of whale meat in Japan, Phillips added. "Building on previous studies scientists have just reported new contaminants data from Japan, she said. "They detected mercury some 1,600 times above the government permitted level as well as large amounts of organic mercury and cadmium in whale meat that is widely available."

WWF and the Ocean Alliance are conducting a three-year, around-the-world study of persistent toxins in the world's oceans.

"We are destroying ocean fisheries by contaminating them with heavy metals and chemical pollutants," said Ocean Alliance president Roger Payne. "In the next few years we could lose access to many ocean fisheries; several species are already well on the way to becoming too polluted to eat. I am amazed by how few people recognize the seriousness of this issue."

Conservation groups contend that contamination of whale meat not only represents a human health issue but also contributes to the fact that whales are under various environmental pressures. Those pressures include entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships, habitat degradation and climate change on the food supply of whales.

Copyright 2000, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved

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Worldwide Fund for Nature
Convention for International Trade of Endangered Species in Flora and Fauna
International Whaling Commission
ENN Whale Quiz
International Fund for Animal Welfare
Sea Shepherd International

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