Seaweed has been a favorite snack in our household for ages. I have always felt good about my kids eating their sea veggies. It seemed like a great way to get minerals into their diet. Consuming seaweed has become very trendy in many parts of the US. But, alas, another food source disappears out of our diet. No more seaweed for this family!
Before I begin, I want to explain that I am a lover of the sea. I have lived on the coast all of my life starting on the coast of Finland, to the coast of Sweden, to the waters off of New Orleans, to the Atlantic Coast, and finally my West Coast home on the Pacific Ocean. I big part of my diet over the years has come from the sea. I was raised on all sorts of fish and shellfish. I do love me some clams dipped in butter and garlic.
Sadly, however, my days of eating from the sea are over. I have been in semi-denial about the pollution in our ocean waters for some time. Giving up my sushi dates with my teenager has been hard. But it’s time to face the music. It’s time to see the truth. Our oceans are deeply contaminated with radioactive poisons from the fall out from Japan. Radiation from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant disaster in Japan is now actively in the ecosystem all along the North American west coast.
I gave up eating seafood when I was pregnant with my now 2 year old. I didn’t want to expose her to anything in the womb. The accident in Fukushima, Japan happened right around that time. After her birth, our family continued to avoid seafood for the most part, except for seaweed. We have always loved it. It’s so good for you, right?
Seaweed offer one of the broadest range of minerals of any food found on earth. It is loaded with B vitamins (folate, pantothetic acid, and riboflavin), magnesium, iron, and calcium. It also contains the cancer-fighting compounds called lignans. And as many of us already know, seaweed is also nature’s richest sources of iodine which plays a critical role in thyroid function.
But, it is my opinion that the devastating contamination that has occurred now far out weighs the health benefits of continuing to consume seaweed.
8 Reasons Why We Don’t Eat Seaweed Anymore
I’m not a dooms day kind of person. I try not to get all worked up over every little thing. But after some deep research into whether I should be feeding seaweed to my kids, this is what I found:
1. Radiation levels are rising! The situation is getting worse, not better, but we are not hearing about that in the news. A study by the Tokyo Electric Power revealed that samples taken on July 8, 2013 showed levels of cancer-causing caesium-134 were more than 90 times higher than they were on Friday, July 5, 2013 at 9,000 becquerels per liter.
2. According to THIS article, the West Coast of the United States is being bombarded with nuclear radiation from Fukushima. It states that “Every single day, 300 tons of radioactive water from Fukushima enters the Pacific Ocean. That means that the total amount of radioactive material released from Fukushima is constantly increasing, and it is steadily building up in our food chain.” Polar bears in Alaska are losing their fur and have open sores. Sea lions are dying on the California coast. The news is NOT good!
3. The governments of the United States and Canada are not publicly conducting tests for radioactivity. Despite the fact that the food is not being tested for radioactive contamination in Japan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has agreed to continue purchasing seafood from Japan. Independent testing in Japan showed 65 per cent of the catches tested positive for cesium (a radioactive material), but instead of refusing to purchase the poisoned fish, food safety agencies in both the United States and Canada have simply raised the “acceptable level of radiation.” WHAT!!!
4. Much of the seaweed sold in the United States come from Japan. Studies on seaweed purchased in marketplaces in Los Angles, California show that radioactive levels have increased since the initial accident in Japan in 2011.
5. The contamination is still happening. Oceanographer Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist at the non-profit Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass, along with Nicholas Fisher, a marine sciences professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook did a privately funded study and found that radiation is still being released into the ocean long after the accident in March, 2011.
6. Testing done by Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering found Fukushima cesium in US Pacific sea weed. The same study tested nori sheets sold in Japan (where much of our US supply of seaweed comes from) and found Cesium 134 and Cesium 137 (both radioactive metals.)
7. Radioactive iodine from Fukushima found in California kelp: 40,000,000 Bq of iodine-131 found in a single bed of kelp off Southern California. Research shows that the level of radioactive iodine found there is “well above” levels sampled in kelps prior to the Fukushima.
8. A recent study showed that Southern California’s seaweed tested over 500% higher for radioactive iodine-131 than anywhere else in the U.S. and Canada. BUMMER!
So, I know this is a heavily debated topic. There are many folks who would argue that I’m being an alarmist. But for the sake of the health of my family, we no longer consume seaweed. Yes, we are bummed. But after reading the research, I can’t with a good conscience feed it to my children.
I would love to hear your thoughts!
Click HERE to PIN THIS!
Sources:
- http://www.tidalgreens.com/benefit.html
- http://www.thelibertybeacon.com/2013/01/22/the-radiation-warnings-you-wont-get-from-the-mainstream-propaganda-machine/
photo by: Doug Beckers and depositphotos.com/ Dream79 and Nanisimova_sell
[thrive_leads id='21430']As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Why not buy seaweed from the Atlantic Ocean? I wildcraft seaweed here in Nova Scotia and it is delicious…….
I would love to do more research on Atlantic seaweed. Do you know if any research has been done to assess radiation levels there?
I’ve just recently decided to start eating kelp for the iodine content and then ran across your post. I thought there has to be somewhere in the world where sea vegetables are safe, so I did some googling and found this on kelp: http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/09/18/its-safe-eat-kelp
And this: http://www.oceanapproved.com/
And this on seafood: http://www.vitalchoice.com/shop/pc/viewContent.asp?idpage=141
I hope it restores your faith in the ocean.
Never Give Up! Never Surrender!
Thanks, Jorge! I really appreciate it. I am trying to get my mind around eating from the ocean as I know it is good for me. I will keep researching! 🙂
My husband and I have been RVing in East Coast. Few days ago, We went shopping at the. Big natural food market I usually go in any states we happened to be in. We were shocked to see the high radiation level in every kind of seaweed from Atlantic. Yes, Atlantic. The package said Main coast Atlantic sea vegetable. We used our pancake style Geiger counter to measure about dozen of them. All Atlantic seaweeds and kelp were between 70 to 120 cpm. Pacific Nori from China was much lower with about 45 cpm. Don’t know why level is so high in Atlantic. All the past nuclear waste dumping by European countries might be the cause? I also found organic raw sunflower seeds in bulk section were not acceptable. My Geiger counter kept on going up to almost 130 cpm. Background radiation of the store was only 32. I am using only fish sauce from Thailand as anything from the sea. But I don’t know how long. I’m from Japan and giving up not only sea food but other nice looking vegetables in the East coast is sad. taking so much time hunting for low radiation level vegetables is inconvenient but I can’t complain when I think about people in Japan who were forced to live in Fukushima and eat toxic food. A mom
Hi Katja,
Its Susanne from the Blogger Potluck a few weeks ago. I have heard all of this and have been in denial about it for quite a while as well. But now unfortunately, I am just going to stop eating seafood and fish. I never was a super big seaweed fan. I hate to do it but the information you posted is unbelievably compelling. I can tell you put a lot of time in researching this. Thanks for posting this. Oh, I made the peppermint chocolate bars from your blog that you made at the potluck and they were so great. Your blog is awesome, keep up the great work.
Susanne
Thanks so much for the kind feedback! I wish the oceans were clean! For the sake of the large portion of the world’s population that relies on it for food. Hope to run into you again. 🙂
I am new to your website and appreciate your viewpoints on key health issues.
Marine life is under so much pressure from massive overfishing, military sonar tests, heavy metals and other pollutants, and ocean acidification from excess CO2 which is dissolving shellfish, bleaching coral reefs, and affecting life on up the food chain. Besides the suffering the fish experiences when killed, there are now many reasons not to eat from the ocean.
Seaweed does have such a high nutrient profile, and it’s vegetarian. I buy only Eden Foods brand. Here’s a link about testing their sea vegetables from Japan for radiation and finding it free of contamination:
http://www.edenfoods.com/articles/view.php?articles_id=224
I also buy Eden flaked dulse, which comes from New Brunswick in the North Atlantic, and I don’t eat seaweed often, as a way to avoid possible pollution. It’s hard to know. There are a lot of things organic farms are not tested for (such as lead), and there’s so much air pollution from diesel trucks and factories . . . I do trust land-grown vegetables more than sea-grown, but I don’t know if that’s well founded.
Eden is a company dedicated to food purity. As an example, Muir Glen (owned by General Mills!) claims their canned tomatoes are in bpa-free cans (google bisphenol-A for info on this hormone-disrupting chemical). Muir Glen is within the law by saying so; however, with acidic foods such as tomatoes, there is no zero-bpa can. To address this, Eden started packaging some of their tomatoes in glass, at greater cost, and does NOT claim bpa-free on their tomato cans. But get this: Eden is the only company that researched and utilized the best possible, low-bpa enamel can lining intended for acidic foods, and COULD label it as bpa-free, because it’s within legal limits (and has less bpa than in Muir Glen). But Eden won’t claim bpa-free unless it doesn’t have ANY. In a world in which Santa Cruz Organic peanut butter is owned by Smuckers corporation, and Amy’s and Annie’s brands contain “natural flavor,” Eden is the only company I don’t have to scrutinize. So, if someone wanted to buy seaweed from Japan, I’d recommend Eden Foods.
Not eating any food from the ocean is definitely a reasonable option (i.e., no, I don’t think you’re being an alarmist). The reality in our polluted environment is an ever-growing list of foods which cannot safely be consumed. I think it’s healthy and necessary to look at this new threat of radiation building up in our food; we’re just all on overload already. Mercury in the tuna, pesticides in the bell peppers, GMOs lurking in a dozen different corn products, and now natural flavor. Even cat food is loaded with it, so I know longer buy those brands for my carnivore.
My response is to stay educated, and buy certified organic plant foods (even when I’ve no money for new clothes or movies or a phone with internet). 90% of what I eat comes from the produce and bulk sections, so if I’m overwhelmed with data, or discouraged about finding that my Green & Black’s fair trade cocoa (so good it doesn’t need sugar) actually is from Mondelez, which is Kraft & Philip Morris (who knew?!), at least I know that I vote with my dollars again and again for certified organic, and I end up eating foods that the studies consistently show are great for health: collards, lentils, quinoa, kiwis, walnuts, blueberries, pistachios, avocados, etc.
Thanks so much for the well thought out comment. I agree with so much of what you say. It’s hard to eat clean these days. But you seem to be on a good track. The best we can do is to happy and grateful. Thanks for stopping by. I still don’t think that I will eat anything that comes from the waters near Japan. It’s sad!
http://deepseanews.com/2013/11/true-facts-about-ocean-radiation-and-the-fukushima-disaster/
Have a read. I don’t live in the states, but here is some more information.
Wish you all the best with the non-seafood endeavours.
Thanks for the link!
I’m also wondering about chlorella. Haven’t purchased any for awhile for the same reason, but some literature I’ve read suggests that where it is harvested there is less access to it by the contaminated water. Any thoughts? Must check to see what Mercola has to say about it.
I can’t say for sure about chlorella. Producers claim that it is not contaminated. Hard to say as the ocean is all connected. I’m sadly wary of it all. 🙁
Fortunately, my mother in law was very smart at the time of the horrible accident in Fukushima and bought all nori seaweed she could find. So now we have are large stock of save seaweed we share. Furthermore, as I live in Europe, there’s a good supply of kombu and some other seaweeds originating from Europe, although I’m not totally sure the seas here are clean.
Smart lady! And yes, not sure anywhere in the ocean is clean these days. I’m going to start researching that as well. I’m a bit reluctant since I have always been a lover of the oceans. 🙁
I don’t know what to think about the radiation and seafood thing, since I have read articles about both sides of the issue. I am, however, confused about WHY our government is not more concerned about the whole Fukushima, Japan situation! They don’t seem to be letting the media tell us about it, almost like they are worried it will make Americans panic. I just wish the government and media would take this whole thing more seriously and give the public thorough information.
I’m so glad you wrote about this and just told how you feel in relation to fukushima. My husband and I are constantly surprised at the lack of attention to the issue (we live in LA). We don’t go in the ocean, and we stopped eating seafood (I’m also pregnant so I want to be extra careful). But people just seem to be glossing over it like it’s not a problem… and people I normally think are very smart and informed are just dismissing it.
I’m totally with you on this one!
I was in denial for a long time. It’s really sad! 🙁
As some here already have written: seafood and seaweed is no more healthy unfortunately. I wouldn’t even say Fukushima is the main problem, although I believe it is much more serious than the media let on. However marine nuclear tests have been conducted since the 60s (?) and wide parts of the Pacific Ocean and the area around Russia are still contaminated. Also the Irish Sea (between Great Britain and Ireland) is highly contaminated with radioactive waste from the nuclear power plant Sellafield that pours it’s contaminated waste in the sea – that’s not a nuclear accident, that’s just the “normal process”. See more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Sea#Radioactivity
So Europe is not a “safe haven” regarding radioactivity, it might be even worse than other parts of the ocean that suffer from the Fukushima after effects.
Besides radioactivity there are so many other problems with nowadays sealife, like other pollution, plastic waste, mercury, all that poisonous stuff from the Deep Water Horizon incident etc. The list is endless. Plus I think it’s not anymore environmentally justifiable to eat seafood regarding the deep impact modern fishing methods have on sealife. It’s just cruel and horrible.
It pains me to write this, but for me the oceans are more of a chemical cesspool than anything else nowadays.
Thanks for your well-spoken response. It is sad, indeed. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
It’s a tough issue that’s been on my mind awhile, but so far we’ve been comfortable sourcing items through Vital Choice Wild Seafood & Organics (www.vitalchoice.com ). They routinely test products and post results on their website. They’ve been our only ‘go to’ company for seafood even long before the Fukushima event, as quality, purity, and sustainability have always been top priorities for them. Their website has plenty of info you may find of interest before giving up on seafood altogether, see what you think! However they unfortunately don’t offer any seaweed items.
It’s a pleasure following your Facebook page and blog, found you through another healthy mama food blog, can’t remember which one now! 😉
Thanks so much for this resource. I will check it out. 🙂 and I’m glad that you found me.
What would your source of iodine be since most iodine containing foods come from seafood and especially seaweed? Just wondering cause my iodine levels are low, so have been looking for foods to consume which contain a good amount of iodine. Maybe a future article on this? 🙂
Hi, Susan! Yes, this is an issue if you have low iodine. Raw milk and eggs contain iodine. My functional medicine doctor recommends supplements for folks who are low. 🙂
Hello,
Is iodized salt that contains sodium iodide safe to consume ?
i was about to buy nori from the brand Tanoshi and I came across your website.
Thank you very much for your information.
We use the physics department at the University of Maine at Orono to test our seaweeds for radionuclides being emitted from Japan, and so far, we are free and clear. I have been harvesting seaweeds for food and medicine within a five mile radius of my home on the Maine coast (an hour east of Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor) for the past forty years. I invite customers to come for an overnight or a weekend visit (there’s no charge) so that they can discover for themselves the source and spirit of this food. There are fifteen tents set up on platforms with air mattresses, all ready to for summer visitors. During the cool months, we have a guest bedroom. Visitors eat with the crew and our family, and they learn how to integrate seaweeds into their daily diet. You’re welcome to come for a visit! We pick up people at Concord Trailways bus station in Bangor and also at Bangor International Airport. See our website http://www.theseaweedman.com for contact information. Rest in the Light, abide in the Heart. Larch
Hi, Larch! This sounds awesome. And how wonderful that your seaweed is free and clear. I think I need to come there! I miss my ocean foods!
hi everyone, have you ever thought of getting the best quality seaweed from the other side of the world- Scotland/Ireland. we got the clearest water and all our seaweed is organically harvested with independent lab test for water quality. I know it is hard to believe there is still a place like that on earth. now Japanese companies are importing our Scottish seaweed. contact me if you want any more details. we ship worldwide. please don’t give up eating natural food:)
It’s like anything you buy these days, make sure you know where it is being grown/farmed/shipped from etc.
Like meat for example, now a days it tells you right on the pack where it was raised and where it was slaughtered. Mostly these days seaweed is commercially farmed as demands grow.
I agree i can be alarming of the amounts of pollution in waters now, but as long as you know where the seaweed/fish/ etc have come from, knowing it is not from polluted waters; then i don’t see the big deal of missing out on vial nutrients.
We eat Maine Coastal Sea Vegetables brand. The label clearly states their test for all types of thi gs – included is the radioactivity and microbiological test
Get yourself a Geiger counter and a thorium mantle.
I don’t know why you are that alarmed, Isotopes are not deadly if they are diluted and are not readily absorbed into the body like say calcium or iodine.
Not belittling the scale of the accident, but going off food altogether is just a bit too far, I mean we have had traces of mercury in oceans for years right?