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| Shark for sale at pescadería |
SPAIN (Agencies) What is not surprising is the fact that shark, as well as swordfish and the shortfin mako shark, contain high levels of mercury. What is alarming, however, is that the government kept quiet for seven years about a study carried out by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) which concluded there were mercury-concentration levels higher than permitted by law in these popular seafood dishes fished in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. After a three-year legal battle before the High Court, the environmental group Oceana won access to the report. In its refusal to make it public, the Environment Ministry argued that the study was an internal working document. On December 5, 2003, the IEO concluded a major study concerning the levels of arsenic and heavy metals in fish and shellfish sold to consumers.>>>
