Re: Mercury scam?

["jjcohen" <jjcohen@PRODIGY.NET>]

  Jon,

      Thanks for your note. With evidence that mercury levels in fish has

been

  relatively constant for centuries, we may wonder what caused the concern

  (hysteria?) over mercury levels in seafood (swordfish, tuna, etc.) that

began,

   during the 1960's.  I believe the reason lies in the development of

atomic

  absorption, neutron activation, and other analytical methods that allowed

  for accurate determination of mercury levels so low that they were

previously

  unmeasurable. Researchers seeking funding that would allow them to play

  with these new analytical tools hyped the "problem" of mercury pollution

in

  seafood taking advantage of the tendancy of people to equate detectability

  with hazard.  That, IMHO, is how it happened. Jerry







  ----- Original Message -----

  From: Handy, Jon W <Jon_W_Handy@RL.gov>

  To: 'jjcohen' <jjcohen@PRODIGY.NET>

  Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 11:55 AM

  Subject: RE: Mercury scam?





  > JJ,

  > This is an old story.  As a lover of swordfish, I was disappointed about

20

  > years ago to read that high levels of mercury were being found in the

fish.

  > And it was assumed that the mercury was anthropogenic.  A few years

later it

  > was reported that high mercury was noted in fossilized swordfish and the

  > conclusion was that the mercury was not anthropogenic.  I suspect that

the

  > only difference between the old stories and the new are in the

reporting.

  > Jon







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