Killing Whales, Why?

[kwashier_melava]

Originally Posted by mrjcguevarra

This is not an argument against whale meat. A lot of foods today contain poison. Pesticides in agricultural products mean that you shouldn't really eat non-organically grown fruits and vegetables, either. You can buy commercial whale meat in stores and to my knowledge nobody has ever claimed that it is dangerous to eat.

Marla C. Guevarra
mrjcguevarra@yahoo.com
Las Pinas City, Philippines

That depends on your definition of dangerous. It also depends on whether it is being tested for chemicals:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...591789427.html

Interesting article I found that indicates FDA isnt doing a very good job protecting US consumers from contaminated catches when it involves US fishermen.

http://www.al.com/specialreport/mobi...sf?merc29.html

*link found when researching shark/sailfish in Minnesota; those results touched on at bottom of article

some tested animals exceeded this (and would require disposal of the animal rather than consumption) combined with the issue of whether these animals (whales in general) are beyond population disaster and as I understand it, there is no reliable way for a whaling ship to cull whales by leaving the females to reproduce, leaves me with the opinion that continued whaling is a hinderance to the goal of a sustainable whale population.

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/...hale-meat.html

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by mrjcguevarra

This is not an argument against whale meat. A lot of foods today contain poison. Pesticides in agricultural products mean that you shouldn't really eat non-organically grown fruits and vegetables, either. You can buy commercial whale meat in stores and to my knowledge nobody has ever claimed that it is dangerous to eat.

Marla C. Guevarra
mrjcguevarra@yahoo.com
Las Pinas City, Philippines

Well if my link showing that some whales corpses are so polluted they are considered toxic waste doesn't give you food for thought try these.

Mercury contamination of whale and ... - Thorn Tree travel forum - Lonely Planet

ECO-online. The daily newsletter of whale conservation NGOs during the 52nd IWC

WWF reports that whale meat and blubber sampled in Norway recently were found to contain heavy metals, PCBs and pesticides.

The toxic whale meat crisis now faces Norwegian consumers as well as Japanese. Will the Norwegian government, like Japan, shirk its responsibility to protect its citizens? Will Norway put the financial health of a handful of whalers (who already make a fine living fishing most of the year) ahead of people who are consuming contaminants that cause cancer, sterility and other woes?

Twenty samples of whale meat and blubber collected in Norwegian markets in recent weeks were analyzed by scientists hired by WWF. Preliminary results show that more than 50 PCB congeners were identified, some of which are dioxin-like PCB's. Also, 25 metals were identified in whale blubber samples, including organic mercury. In addition, several organochlorine pesticides were detected, including aldrin, dieldrin, heptachlor, and DDE and DDD (which are breakdown products of DDT).

Toxic Dolphin Meat Warning Used in Campaign Against Hunts

EIA

Faroe islanders told to stop eating 'toxic' whales - environment - 28 November 2008 - New Scientist

Whale meat deemed unsafe for pregnant women | Article from China Daily | HighBeam Research

[Cedars]

Not quite on topic but still very interesting. Pretty amazing video of the Heat Run.

BBC - Earth News - Epic humpback whale battle filmed