Landmark Shmandmark
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Sushi and diet soda—long believed to be healthy alternatives to heart-clogging, sugar-spiking foods and beverages—may pack dangerous punches of their own, at least according to two new studies. A Health Department survey released yesterday reports that one in four New Yorkers
has elevated blood mercury levels thanks to consuming contaminated
fish. Nearly half of Asian women in the city eat so much of the stuff
that their blood mercury levels are at or above what is considered to
be the dangerous level. And while mercury from seafood consumption is
generally believed to be safe for healthy adults, the city’s Department
of Health and Mental Hygiene is urging young children, pregnant and
breast-feeding women to avoid consuming fish
with high mercury levels, such as Chilean sea bass and certain
varieties of fresh tuna, due to the risk of neurological damage during
early development. The Health Department is also advising all New
Yorkers to avoid eating fish caught in the East River, Hudson Rivers
and New York Harbor. Evidently, they’re contaminated, too.