That sucks. I am addicted to tuna sandwiches, casserole, burgers, and melts. Yummy! ♥

@petitenoirtenue - 

I like tuna as well. My point here is not that the tuna sandwich has mercury, but that Thimerosal is about as potent as a tuna sandwich.

@Dargon - 

I caught that. Since I'm not getting the vac. I felt that my tuna sandwich was the more pressing issue. Haha. ♥

Wow thanks for doing all that homework!

Whoa, that's a warning to me. I found out years ago I am allergic to thimerasol, which was used in some contact lens solutions. So I have avoided it all these years. Now, to hear it has mercury, and is in the H1N1 flu shot! I'll be passing on that. Thanks for your research.

@ed408 - 

You seem to have missed the point. If you have a Thimerosal allergy, then that's a legit reason to avoid it. However, vaccines with Thimerosal have a harmless amount of ethyl mercury. Ethyl mercury passes through the body quickly, while methyl stays in longer. A Thimerosal presered vaccine has as much of the not so bad kind of mercury that a tuna sandwich does of the bad stuff.

Thanks for all of the research. I'm just wondering if mercury absorbed orally will have a different affect than mercury injected into the blood stream. It seems that the digestive system could help dilute the potency.

@Jason - 

Admittedly I do not know how much would pass through unabsorbed, and it is possible that some would indeed do so. A quick google search shows shows that most is indeed absorbed, though, into the bloodstream where it accumulates in the brain. Again, the mercury in fish is methyl mercury, as opposed to the ethyl mercury in vaccines, and thus still spends less time in the body.

The difference is that your stomach will absorb and excrete 90% of the mercury eaten in tuna - leaving 10% for your bloodstream.  The vaccine will be 100% in to your bloodstream.

First of all, the flu vaccine is not injected into the bloodstream, it is injected into the muscle.  Second of all, an adult dose is actually .5 mL.  6 mos-35 mos is .25 mL.  Under the age of 10, two doses are required seperated by a 4 week time period.

@MW - 

You are indeed correct that the stomach absorbs 90% of the mercury. However, it excretes it into the bloodstream. Furthermore, that which remains tends to get absorbed into the bloodstream later in digestion. Very near 100% of mercury that is eaten is taking into the bloodstream.

@thatgirl - 

Never said it was injected into the bloodstream, but where do you think it goes from the muscle? The bloodstream, so it still gets there.

With regards to dosage, in terms of vaccines, "dose" is a measure of volume, .50mL. Baby doses are half that. The adult vaccination consists of two doses, or 1 mL.

Your information with regards to children under 10 is correct. Two .50mL doses separated by four weeks.

In my experience... stuff that gets absorbed by my stomach gets excreted into the toilet. I feel much safer eating a sandwich than having someone inject mercury into me with a needle... muscle injection or not.

By the way... Albacore Tuna is much higher than Light Chunk Tuna... and Sushi Grade Tuna takes the cake! Sushi can be as high as 1.4 ppm.

@TakeoK - 

Good job re reiterating all the points the previous commenter made.

As I addressed with the previous commenter, the 90% that is absorbed by the stomach goes into the bloodstream, it is NOT excreted out.

Second, as stated in my post, the mercury in tuna is methyl mercury, which accumulates in the body, as opposed to ethyl mercury which has a very short in body half life.

I'd be curious to see your source on mercury in other fish. I am aware several other fish have higher mercury content than canned tuna, but I have never seen numbers as large as 1.4 ppm.

@Dargon - 

You are missing an important factor: Seafood has sellenium in it that binds the mercury.

http://www.naturalnews.com/026729_selenium_mercury_tuna.html

The following types of fish have very high Se-HBV, containing between 10 and 25 times as much Selenium than Mercury. High quality servings of the following fish can be expected to lower blood levels of Mercury along with providing a healthy amount of Selenium.

* Yellowfin Tuna
* Albacore Tuna
* Skipjack Tuna
* Mahi Mahi
* Wahoo

Only one fish in the Western Pacific study (Mako shark) showed higher levels of Mercury than Selenium, while one other (Swordfish) had an even, 50/50 ratio of Mercury and Selenium.

Another study by Dr. Nicholas Ralston at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that (southern) Flounder and (wild Pacific) Salmon (including Chinook, Sockeye and Coho) have much more Selenium than Mercury. It also shows that Pilot Whale, Tarpon and most types of Shark should be avoided, with Grouper being about even.

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090922_Mystery_of_fish_mercury_levels_solved.html

The 1.4 figure came from an article in the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/dining/23sushi.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2

@TakeoK - 

Thank you for the source.

@Kimberly - 

Very interesting, I was unaware of selenium before. I will look more into it. A brief initial google search shows that excessive mercury and selenium together has problems, but not nearly the same as the two individually. Additionally, considering the heavy use of the term "detox" in your first article, I am skeptical of that particular one, but that doesn't mean there isn't some substance to this, especially considering I found reference to selenium on the EPA site as well.

@Dargon - 

Tuna sandwich vs Thimerosal. Thanks for doing the research (& the math)!

I've seen some reference to selenium's role in the process of excreting heavy metals, but nothing to suggest the ratio of selenium to mercury in the diet is in any way relevant. If you have time to research it, I'd love to see the results. Unfortunately, I've come to suspect anything from NaturalNews. Occasionally I see good articles on there, but the site's editor, "Mike Adams, the Health Ranger," is a sensationalist writer with little regard for research or logic.

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@Dargon - 

NO an adult dose is still .5ml once a year usually