Fragments From Floyd

Where does one get fish oil? Well, from fish. And this would be my preferred choice for omega-3 fatty acids, a dietary component I'd like to increase. We have a couple of gals who make the trip every week to the coast and back to our area with fresh fish. We can occasionally afford a pound of shrimp or a couple of catfish. But one thing we will not be getting is tuna. Charlie's day in our diet is over, and if you have children or are pregnant, you should consider other sources of Chuck's former goodness for your table. Why?

Coal.

Traveling into the upper atmosphere along with dozens of other nasties (for instance, CO2) coming from the tall stacks of coal burning power plants is mercury. It was an element laid down in the organic deposit millions of years ago when coal was formed. Now, and for the past hundred or more years, it settles out of the air over time, and falls to the ground or water. In the water, anaerobic bacteria in marine sediments convert the inorganic metal into organic methylmercury, which then accumulates in living tissues as it moves up the food chain. And there at the top of the marine feeding pyramid is our poor friend, Charlie. And there is no free-range, farm grown, organic alternative. If you eat tuna, you are ingesting methylmercury. No problem, you say? Consider:

1 in 6 children born every year in the U.S. have been exposed to mercury levels so high that they are potentially at risk for learning disabilities and motor skill impairment.

By eating 6 ounces (1 can) of chunk white tuna per week, a child ingests almost 4 times the EPA's recommended weekly limit for mercury consumption.

... "methylmercury has been shown to paralyze migrating fetal brain cells and halt their cell division. As a result, the architecture of the brain is subtly altered in ways that can lead to learning disabilities, delayed mental development, and shortened attention spans in later childhood."

Not good. And furthermore, 1200 new coal burning power plants are planned for the next two decades. And if you're a pregnant mother in Kentucky or West Virginia, you get to pay twice: mountaintop removal takes it, and tuna gives it back.