Chief medical officers of the Faroe Islands have announced that pilot whales are no longer fit for human consumption, because they are toxic 鈥� as revealed by research on the islanders themselves.
The remote Atlantic islands between Scotland and Iceland have been one of the last strongholds of traditional whaling, with thousands of small pilot whales killed every year, and eaten by most Faroese.
Anti-whaling groups have long protested, but the Faroese argue that whaling is part of their culture 鈥� an argument adopted by large-scale whalers in Japan and Norway.
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In a statement to the islanders last week, however, chief medical officers P谩l Weihe and H酶gni Debes Joensen announced that the meat and blubber contain too much mercury, PCBs and DDT derivatives to be safe for human consumption. 鈥淚t is with great sadness that this recommendation is provided,鈥� they said. 鈥淭he pilot whale has kept many Faroese alive through the centuries.鈥�
Research on the impact of the pollutants on the Faroese has shown that mercury, especially, causes lasting damage, including damage to fetal neural development and immunity in children, high blood pressure, increased rates of Parkinson鈥檚 disease, circulatory problems and possibly infertility in adults.
The medical officers note that it was not the Faroese who created the pollution but, nevertheless, 鈥渢hese results have already led to tightened restrictions on pollution worldwide. We must therefore also ourselves acknowledge the consequences.鈥�