84% of the world fish is contaminated with mercury

The Maine State Institute for Biodiversity Research (USA) has reported that up to 84% of fish worldwide contain a significant amount of mercury to human health, according to CBS News TV news ( USA) posted on January 14.

Health experts say that people with mercury poisoning are mainly caused by eating fish.

Tuna and swordfish are the two types of fish most severely affected by mercury. Mercury is an element that can cause permanent damage to human brain and kidneys.

Since mercury pollution occurs worldwide, any source of fish is contaminated.

Mercury comes from gold mines and leaks into battery factories
In the water source, many fish species have high levels of mercury contamination

CBS News offers a case of Richard Gelfond, general manager of IMAX (Canada), the world's leading cinema business, with mercury poisoning for eating fish regularly.

Mr. Gelfond said he was a sportsman, but one day he felt something was wrong.

'I was jogging, then suddenly I felt like collapsing from shock. Then my health became so bad that my wife had to help me cross the street, ' Gelfond recounted.

After going through a series of medical tests, a neurologist asked Gelfond if he used to eat fish. Mr. Gelfond replied that he ate two children a day.

Test results showed that he had mercury poisoning.

'70% of fish in the US are imported from other countries. Many types of tuna are sold in the US with high levels of mercury , 'said Linda Greer, an official with the US National Resources Protection Council.

The United Nations is expected to propose countries to sign a treaty to reduce mercury pollution at a meeting in Geneva city this week.

The proposal calls for countries around the world to handle the amount of mercury emitted from coal burning, cut the amount of mercury used in gold mining and reduce the use of mercury in the production of batteries.