Is mercury in fish really an issue?

Mercury in fish comes from volcanoes (or so says alot of websites) so if this is a naturally occuring source, why havend hundreds of generations of fish eating japanese gotten sick from mercury?

thanks for any input. :)

ok the silver stuff in thermometers is not the same as the methyl mercury that poisons fish. even a simple google search can tell you that :)

because you shoulndt' have that much mercury in your body. they say you should only eat fish 2 times a week because it takes a while for your body to get rid of the mercury. they also say that pregnant women shouldn't eat any fish during their pregnancy for fear that they will harm their unborn child. the fish eating japanese haven't gotton sick because they are used to eating the fish, that's a staple in their diet. But that's not to say that none of them have gotten sick, some do. hear in america it's not generally a custom to eat fish at every meal. we have a diet with more variety.

Hundreds of thousands of factories empty their waste into our oceans and rivers each year. What do you think?
Basically, as long as fish is wild and not farm raised, then you're good. Farm raised fish is loaded with all kinds of harmful antibiotics and steroids to increase production. Same with chicken, pork, beef....

YESSSSSSSS MECURY CAN KILL YOU SAD TO SAY THATS WHY THEY TELL U NOT TO BREAK A THEMOMITER B/C IT HAS MERCURY IN IT :0

I would beg to differ on the major source of mercury in fish. It is directly tied to human activity, specifically mining. It is a known poison and the levels in the past 60years have increased exponentially.

mercury itself isnt really that bad for you. however, when it breaks down into other substance, it cannot onlybe harmful, but deadly. The reason the japanese have notgotten sick is because their bodies have adapted over time to the amountsof mercury.

The reason behind calling mad hatters "mad" is because they used to spread mercury on their hats to make them shiny. They evenutally became mentally ill, so caling them mad was a decent and fitting name.

a new problem that could come abot soon is halogen light bulbs. The mercury in those will break down into a certain type of mercury that if it gets on your skin, you wil be dead within a year. The reaon it hasnt happened much yet is because most of he people that use these bulbs disposeof them correctly, such as at a recycling center. HOwever, the newest energy bill forces us to buy these types of lights after a certain date.

mercury is a risk when it its at high levels-mostly from industrial waste water-most of the warnings I ever see are from eating fish that are predators and bottom dwellers such as catfish and bass which are territorial-the older the fish the higher the risk

Mercury is poisonous it maybe the cause of autism, it is found in vaccines. However Japanese people eat herbs and it is well known that certain herbs do help the body cleanse heavy metals. So don't expect that your body will be able to rid itself of mercury as fast as a Japanese person who eats unpasteurized raw herbs that have incredible health benefits. Want to find some of these kinds of amazing herbs go to www.universalformulas.com.

Yes , it is a problem. There are several sources, one of the major being coal-fired power plants. Carbon is a wonderful filter, and filters out things like mercury- then we burn the coal.
There is actually more radioactivity around coal fired plants than nuclear plants.
There are many fresh water lakes in FL that have warnings not to eat more than 2 fish a week from that lake.