http://www.fda.gov/food/foodsafety/product-specificinformation/seafood/foodbornepathogenscontaminants/methylmercury/ucm115644.htm

SALMON (CANNED) * 0.008 ND 0.017 ND 0.086 34

Alaska canned salmon FTW.

Please see below for further reading

http://whyfiles.org/201mercury/3.html

At what level does mercury become harmful?
The World Health Organization’s guidelines maintain that the lowest level that could possibly be harmful to humans is 5 parts per million (ppm). This level is based on scientific results from the 1960s that placed the level at which risk begins at 50 ppm for most people; WHO then applied a safety factor of 10, deciding that a level of 5 or less is safe for even the most vulnerable populations.
Now the University of Rochester team has conducted an extensive study in the Seychelles Islands of the most sensitive population — young children — where the average level is about 7 ppm, about 10 times the level of the U.S. population. The scientists found no harm from mercury at levels up to 15 ppm, nearly twice the average Seychelles level and about 20 times higher than the average U.S. level.

http://www.epa.gov/iris/subst/0073.htm

The following bit explains the EPA’s reason for not fully using the University of Rochester study (Seychelles Islands). U of R felt that the Seychelles Islands study was more applicable to American diet than the Faroe Islands study, but EPA followed the safe route, which is… well, safe.

###
Two of the studies (Faroe Islands, New Zealand) reported effects on a number of neuropsychological endpoints, whereas the third (Seychelles Islands) reported no effects related to in utero exposure to methylmercury. Benchmark dose analysis of a number of endpoints from both the New Zealand and Faroe Islands study converged on an RfD of 0.1 µg/kg-day, as did the integrative analysis combining all three studies.
###

Overall, I’m quite happy with information you presented, and it’s in line with what the rest of the world is using as reference. EPA seems to have dropped the current levels due to the perceived effect on the most susceptible population, which are pregnant mothers and young children, which I assume isn’t your target audience! =-)

The kidneys and the brain seem to filter most of the mercury out from the blood, so the blood tends to measure considerably less mercury levels in ppm than does the hair or the urine.

Half-life of mercury in the blood has been estimated as about 3 days, mercury in body tissues clears slowly, with a half-life of about 90 days, and mercury in the brain and central nervous system clears incredibly slow, with a half-life of 15 to 30 years.

Taking intravenous or oral chelates seems to be the normal accepted manner of getting rid of heavy metals in the tissues, and it’s said to work for the brain as well. Alternative health approaches have advocated safer heavy metal cleanses for years, but I don’t know of any research. I found claims and denials that sauna helps rid of heavy metals, so that’s a wash. Even if it did, would probably need to take supplements to try to keep the newly circulating mercury from settling in the brain.

The above charts seem to indicate a maximum daily mercury intake of about 16 µg/day for men, which matches the WHO recommendation, but it is a little over 2x what EPA/FDA recommends.

The World Health Organization 2002 guideline is 1.6 µg/kg/week and converted to a daily dose for comparison is 0.228 µg/kg/day, or 16 µg/day of methylmercury for 70kg man.

It appears that some time after 1998, EPA dropped the recommended daily intake from 30 µg/day to 0.1 µg/kg/day, or 7 µg/day for a 70kg person.

The only recent information I can find from the FDA was to say eating fish has health benefits, but but it limits women who may become pregnant to 12 ounces of low-mercury fish per week.

A University of Rochester study supported the previous EPA/FDA recommendations of 30µg/day in 1998, which was close to the WHO recommendations at that time.
http://www.rochester.edu/pr/releases/med/mercury.htm

Couldn’t tell ya’ since I know nothing about them.

Lyle

While it should still be monitored, is mercury a bit less of an issue if regularly using a far infared sauna for detox purposes? Obviously too much mercury would eventually become a problem anyway, but I’m curious if this can have a mitigating effect to some degree.