Paris, October 29th 2024,

Object: Citizen’s petition, tuna and mercury: supermarkets must remove poison from their Shelves

This is a public health scandal, and you are fully aware of it: the tuna cans we purchased from several supermarkets across Europe and tested all contain mercury without exception.

Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that accumulates in the flesh of marine animals, especially predatory fish like tuna, located at the top of the food chain. Classified among the ten most worrisome chemicals for public health by the World Health Organization¹ and as a possible carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer², mercury is a dangerous metal that can persist in the brain for several decades. Small doses taken regularly can have dramatic consequences on the adult body and pose particular risks to the brain development of fetuses and young children^3,4,5,6,7,8.

Tuna is one of the species most contaminated with heavy metals. It is also the most sold fish in Europe⁹.

You can and must put an end to this public health scandal.

Immediately.

You represent the ten most significant retail chains in Germany, Spain, France, and Italy. Your responsibility to European citizens is both moral and ethical.

By selling mercury-contaminated tuna knowingly, you are today complicit in a global public health scandal. You must end this widespread contamination without delay.

Do not hide behind the maximum mercury levels currently deemed ‘acceptable’ by public authorities. We have proven that the thresholds in force today were established based on tuna contamination rates and not on the danger mercury poses to human health. Legal limits are permits to contaminate. They solely aim to protect the financial interests of the industrial fishing sector. They result from opaque processes under the influence of lobbying groups and bring shame to our democracies.

BLOOM and foodwatch will also mobilize to ensure that mercury standards genuinely protect human health throughout Europe. Waiting for legal contamination limits to change before acting would be immoral, irresponsible, and unforgivable.

Take the following urgent measures to protect our health and end this public health scandal:

1. Remove contaminated tuna and tuna products (above 0.3 mg/kg) from your shelves.
2. Apply the strictest standard currently in force for other fish species (0.3 mg/kg instead of 1 mg/kg) to all forms of tuna.
3. Cease all advertising and promotion for tuna products.
4. Inform consumers of the health risks associated with mercury contamination in fish through visible labeling on tuna products sold in your supermarkets and online stores.

Addressed to the main supermarket chains in France, Spain, Italy and Germany: Aldi, Carrefour, Conad, Coop, Esselunga, Edeka, Intermarché, Leclerc, Lidl, Mercadona and Rewe.

SOURCES :

[1] OMS Mercure et santé https://www.who.int/fr/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mercury-and-health

[2] IARC (CIRC) List of classifications https://monographs.iarc.who.int/list-of-classifications

[3] EFSA (2012) Scientific Opinion on the Risk for Public Health Related to the Presence of Mercury and Methylmercury in Food, pages 81 à 125, https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2985

[4] Jacobson et al. (2015) Relation of Prenatal Methylmercury Exposure from Environmental Sources to Childhood IQ https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408554

[5] Freire et al. (2010) Hair Mercury Levels, Fish Consumption, and Cognitive Development in Preschool Children from Granada, Spain, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2009.10.005

[6] Yaginuma-Sakurai et al. (2010) Intervention Study on Cardiac Autonomic Nervous Effects of Methylmercury from Seafood https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ntt.2009.08.009

[7] Skalny et al. (2022) Mercury and Cancer: Where Are We Now after Two Decades of Research? https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2022.113001

[8] Bjørklund et al. (2019) Mercury Exposure and Its Effects on Fertility and Pregnancy Outcome https://doi.org/10.1111/bcpt.13264

[9] European Commission. Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. et al. Le marché européen du poisson (2023) page 36 https://eumofa.eu/documents/20124/35668/EFM2023_FR.pdf