Tinned tuna contaminated with mercury: NGOs

Paris: Tinned tuna in many European countries is contaminated with dangerous levels of mercury, according to two environment pressure groups who calle...

Paris: Tinned tuna in many European countries is contaminated with dangerous levels of mercury, according to two environment pressure groups who called on retail stores and governments to take "urgent" measures.

The Foodwatch and Bloom groups said that authorities had to cut the permitted levels of the heavy metal.

Bloom said all of the 148 tins of tuna randomly selected in Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Spain it tested at an independent laboratory "were contaminated with mercury".

The group, which campaigns for protection of the oceans, said that in more than half of the tins, the mercury level was higher than the 0.3 milligrams per kilogramme maximum limit for mercury in other fish.

Bloom said that current accepted mercury levels of 1 milligram per kilo had been set to make sure that "95 percent" of tuna caught is sold.