Are you planning to eat tuna, shark or swordfish for dinner tonight? You might want to think twice, especially if you're a woman. Health Canada won't test these fish for mercury. The Citizen did. And the results are alarming.
Three species of marine fish carrying potentially dangerous levels of mercury are being sold openly in fish markets and grocery stores across Canada.Health Canada exempts swordfish, shark and fresh or frozen tuna from regular testing for mercury content, even though it knows all three almost never meet the 0.5 parts-per-million maximum the department has set for all other fish.
Health Canada says the three species are "gourmet" fish, and as such do not constitute a health hazard for Canadian consumers. However, Health Canada does not have comprehensive sales or consumption figures to show swordfish, shark or fresh tuna should be considered "gourmet."
Department spokesman John Salminan says if the guidelines for mercury content were applied to the three species it would almost certainly force them off the market.
Swordfish has been exempt from testing since 1979, shark since 1990 and fresh tuna since 1997. The Food Inspection Agency, which is responsible for policing policies set down by Health Canada, says in an advisory that the three species are large fish that carry higher levels of methylmercury, and if the latest consumer protection limits, which were set in 1998, were applied all three would have to be taken off the market.
Independent laboratory tests commissioned by the Citizen show that swordfish, shark and fresh or frozen tuna are consistently more than double the Health Canada limit. Five other species and canned tuna almost always meet the standard.
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