Many people believe that shark fin soup is beneficial to one’s health. The reality is quite the opposite!
There is no accepted scientific evidence that shark fin provides any medicinal or health benefit. In contrast, studies show that shark is among the highest levels of toxic mercury that is found in fish. And, that mercury can be very hazardous to our health.
Organizations throughout the world, including the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), recognize mercury to be a dangerous neurotoxin and warn against eating shark, especially pregnant women, women who plan to become pregnant, or children.
The danger of Mercury
The developing brain of the human fetus is very vulnerable to mercury and can result in mental disabilities. There is also an association between mercury and autism. In adults, mercury can cause damage to the central nervous system. Mercury can also lower sperm count and cause sterility among men.
Mercury is in shark fins and in soup
Studies conducted by Hong Kong Baptist University and WildAid2 indicate ¼ of shark fins analyzed had mercury levels higher than the highest allowable standards set by the World Health Organization for fishery products. Sharks fins contain other poisons, as well. Shark fins bought in Haikou were found to be so contaminated with arsenic that they exceeded China’s national guidelines for marine products by 13 to 32 times. The way shark fins and shark fin soup is prepared can result in each guest at a banquet ingesting over a hundred times the daily recommended intake of these poisons!
Why sharks can be so toxic
Mercury and other toxins enter the oceans from pollution. Fish absorb these toxins as they live and eat. Mercury accumulates in fish’s body as it eats other fish. The accumulated mercury travels up the food chain from fish to predator to the top predator, which are sharks. Sharks can live for 50 years or more, eating many mercury-laden fish during that lifetime, storing mercury in their bodies all that time. When we eat shark fin soup, the mercury becomes ours.
Download:
WildAid's Mercury Report (coming)
1. World Health Organization, Mercury, A Major Public Health Concern, www.who.int/phe/news/Mercury-flyer.pdf
2. Croucher Institute for Environmental Sciences & Hong Kong Baptist University (03/07/07) Final Report: Contaminants and health risk assessment of shark fins available in markets in five cities in China. Submitted to WildAid. |
