Diagnosis Mercury Part 2

This is the second of two blogs discussing the book “Diagnosis Mercury” by Jane Hightower.  I will discuss the rest of this book in this blog.  The author discusses mercury poisoning of the fish in Canada and Michigan.  She discusses a court case where the FDA is suing Anderson Foods because their swordfish were had tested above the FDA’s safe limit at that time of 0.5 mcg/g of mercury in commercial fish.  A large part of the case discussed the seed grain poisoning in Iraq and studies done on it.  First discussed are the witnesses on the side of the FDA.    She discusses the witnesses on the side of Anderson foods too.  This trial changed the FDA’s safe limit to 1 mcg/g of mercury in commercial fish.

            Next she discusses studies of mercury levels in fish that took place in Samoa and Peru.  She then discusses even bigger studies that were done in Seychelles and Faroes.  These studies focused on the effects of mercury toxicity on babies and young children.  The EPA uses the Faroes study to set its current standard for methyl mercury in the consuming of fish.  The fishing industry uses the Seychelles study as a counter to the Faroes study.  These two studies are discussed in detail. 

            The author then discusses some benefits that would happen if less people were poisoned from mercury in fish.  One was people would miss less work and medical practices would save money if mercury poisoning was found earlier.  She discusses some experiences she has had when working with people with mercury poisoning from fish.  This book really shows many of the studies done on mercury poisoning from fish.  It also shows some court cases on mercury poisoning.  It also shows an in depth look at mercury poisoning from a doctor and her many experiences with finding it and working with others about it.  It is worth reading if you are at all interested in mercury poisoning from fish and its effects on people, fishing companies, and the medical field.