Regarding the Aug. 1 article "Taiji Officials: dolphin meat 'toxic waste,'" Taiji town (Wakayama Prefecture) has a long history of engagement in dolphin fisheries, and many people have been enjoying dolphin meat for a long time. Boys and girls customarily have eaten the boiled internal organs of dolphins as a snack. And they have grown healthy.
I have never heard of any reports suggesting that Taiji people have a high frequency of brain-related and other illnesses caused by mercury pollution in dolphin meat. Furthermore, many Japanese people like to eat tuna meat in which large amounts of mercury have been reported.
Recently the prices of dolphin and tuna meat have become so high that it has actually become very difficult for people to eat large amounts of either on a daily basis. Epidemiologic research is needed to understand this problem correctly.
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