I was just starting this research before I said I had no time for this board. The evidence is here is so blatant and convincing I have to post it to help people in the right direction. After reading all of this I am convinced that whoever posted about slugde and mercury just made that up on a wim. I wrote Maine Sea Coast yesterday and they gave much data in reply. BTW I bought 10 pounds of kelp and dulse today.
Mercury, sludge, all other heavy metals, chemicals, pesticides where never meant to be any where on this planet let alone the life blood the ocean. So there was never anything created to take them out. It would be like saying kelp is there to stop all nukes from exploding, redicules beyond description. The answer to mercury sludge and and all pollution is for us to wise up and stop creating all of it. Stop putting anything in the water. All land food is 100% contaminated with perchlorate, and most water with mtbe, that includes all organic. To follow through with not eating sea veggies for reasons of pollution would mean not to eat anything.

this resarch shows that sea veggies chelate and detox all heavy metals, just the opposite of what whas posted before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't have time to discuss this
the net is full of truthfull info
think for yourselves

elnatural
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SEAWEED ECOLOGY
Seaweeds play very important ecological roles in many marine communities. They are a food source for marine animals such as sea urchins and fishes, and are the nutritional base of some food webs. They also provide shelter and a home for numerous fishes, invertebrates, birds, and mammals.

Large seaweeds can form dense underwater forests, called kelp forests. These forests provide a physical structure that supports marine communities by providing animals with food and shelter. Kelp forests act as underwater nurseries for many marine animals, such as fish and snails. The lush blades form a dense forest canopy where invertebrates, fishes, birds, otters, and whales can find lots of tasty food and a good home. Beautiful sea slugs and kelp crabs can be seen on the blades and stipes of the seaweeds, while other small marine animals like worms find their homes in the the holdfasts. Kelp forests are a huge food source for sea urchins and other grazing invertebrates.
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Purple Dulse Seaweed
Seaweeds are the richest source of absorbable minerals on the planet. The Purple Dulse Seaweed is 22% protein (dry weight) and is an excellent source of Vitamins A, C, E, and B-12 as well as calcium, iron, iodine, niacin, thiamin and trace minerals. It is low in sodium and high in potassium. The latest research describes that Purple Dulse Seaweed may help reverse hardening of the arteries, reduce high blood pressure, regress and prevent tumors, and even remove toxic metals from our bodies by transforming them into harmless salts (via a substance called alginic acid) that are easily eliminated
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How to Live a Mercury-Safe Lifestyle
The best way is to keep eating, of course!
Cilantro and Seaweed are two secret weapons to remedying mercury contamination. Both cilantro and seaweed prevent your body from absorbing mercury and letting it infiltrate your blood stream.

Cilantro mobilizes mercury, aluminum, lead and tin stored in the brain and in the spinal cord and moves it into the connective tissues. Your body can then extract the mobilized mercury when going to the bathroom.

Seaweed contains chlorella, which is also found in many algae and other aquatic plants. It is this characteristic of seaweed that gives it the capacity to absorb rather large amounts of toxic metals, thus recovering most available fractions of the metals in your system.

Cook with these two great ingredients, and you’ll be guarding yourself against any indirect mercury contamination.
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Table 3. Marine samples analyzed for Total and Me-Hg
FISH SAMPLE MeanTHg (ng/g) Mean Me-Hg(ng/g) Mean% Me-Hg
Bariles (tuna) 438.8 377.18 85.96
Bugaong (grunt) 107.85 103.09 97.86
Lapu-Lapu (gopher) 102.37 101.69 99.38
Tuna 84.8 83.84 98.87
Banak (mullet) 29.38 27.97 95.20
Tamban (indian sardines) 26.44 24.25 91.72
Maya-Maya A (napper) 18.31 17.24 93.32
Bangus (milkfish) 12.92 10.36 80.19
Tilapia 10.33 9.895 95.40
Seaweed * 6.39 nd nd
Peret (small tuna) 5.74 5.485 95.95
Samaral A 1.34 0.725 56.16
USFDA standards = 0.5 ug/g or 500 ng/g
WHO(for non-polluted water bodies) = 100-200 ng/g
n.d = non-detectablee
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Letter back today from Maine Sea Coast Veggies
Thank you for your inquiry, and again for your phone order this morning.
Sea veggies are not filters, so I am unclear as to how anyone can assert
that they contain toxins and sludge. We don't have any scientists on staff
here. We rely on other scientific studies and data, input from our
harvesters, and, well, common sense. So we don't have much hard science on
the purpose of sea veggies in the ocean. To us they are ocean plants, full
of nutrients, and we offer them as food in dried, minimally processed form.

Sea veggies are ocean plants, and we can't control their growing conditions,
but we can be aware of what is in them. We do test our sea veggies every
year for heavy metals. I have attached our sheet from last year to this
e-mail. We test at the end of every harvest year, so 2006 is the last year
for which data is available. I have included papers on pollution and trace
elements and heavy metals, which you may find interesting.
WHAT WE TEST:
1. Kelp leaf 6. Dulse powder
2. Dulse leaf 7. Kelp powder
3. Laver leaf 8. Sea Lettuce leaf
4. Alaria leaf 9. Ascophyllum powder
5. Toasted Nori sheets

WHAT WE TEST FOR:
1. Pesticides 4. Petroleum Residues
2. Herbicides 5. Heavy Metals
3. PCB’s 6. Microbiological Contaminants

WHO DOES THE TESTING:
1. Katahdin Analytical Services, Westbrook, ME, a NELAC accredited laboratory

THE RESULTS:
1. Pesticides (21 compounds): Meet or exceed all FDA regulated compounds*
2. Herbicides (10 compounds): Meet or exceed all FDA regulated compounds*

*FDA site [www.fda.gov]

3. PCB’s (7 polychlorinated biphenyls): None detected
4. Petroleum Residues (17 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons): None detected
5. Heavy Metals (4 elements)
Mercury PQL= .04 ppm Arsenic (inorganic) Cadmium PQL= 1 ppm Lead PQL= .5 ppm
KELP whole leaf Undetected <3.00 ppm 2.0 ppm Undetected
DULSE whole leaf Undetected <3.00 ppm Undetected Undetected
LAVER whole leaf Undetected <3.00 ppm 4.2 ppm Undetected
ALARIA whole leaf Undetected <3.00 ppm 4.3 ppm Undetected
NORI sheets Undetected <3.00 ppm 2.3 ppm Undetected
DULSE powder Undetected <3.00 ppm Undetected 0.66 ppm
KELP powder Undetected <3.00 ppm Undetected Undetected
SEA LETTUCE whole leaf Undetected <3.00 ppm Undetected 0.94 ppm
ASCOPHYLLUM powder Undetected <3.00 ppm Undetected Undetected

PQL’s (Practical Quantification Limits) for each metal are the lowest detection limits, taking into account the method, instrumentation and matrix being tested.

Undetected indicates the metal was not detected above its PQL.

Inorganic arsenic is tested using the FAO/WHO Food Chemicals Codex (FCC) protocol with a reporting limit of 3ppm. The < symbol means “less than”. For more on why we only test for inorganic arsenic, see “Trace Elements and Heavy Metals in Maine Coast Sea Vegetables”.

6. Microbiological Analysis

Coliforms/g E. coli/g Standard plate count CFU’s/g Yeasts CFU’s/g Molds CFU’s/g
KELP whole leaf <3 <3 3 <10 <21
DULSE whole leaf <3 <3 120 <3 <3
LAVER whole leaf <3 <3 1530 <3 51
ALARIA whole leaf <3 <3 6 <3 39
NORI sheets <3 <3 3 <3 <3
DULSE powder <3 <3 230 120 150
KELP powder <3 <3 250 30 <10
SEA LETTUCE whole leaf <3 <3 192 <3 3
ASCOPHYLLUM powder <3 <3 120 <10 60

All results preceded by a < (less than) mean that none were detected above the given limit.

GENERAL NOTES on PRODUCT TESTING:

Maine Coast Sea Vegetables are wild, uncultivated marine algae. Specific analysis may vary from the above typical analysis. Naturally occurring fluctuations in the sea plants are due to season, weather conditions, tidal flow, and time of harvest. The information presented above is believed to be accurate and reliable, but are averages and not guaranteed as conditions of sale. MCSV makes no warranty, either express or implied, and assumes no liability for this information or the products described.

We believe that traditional whole foods such as seaweeds are well suited for nourishing human cells. World wide, seaweed is and has been consumed in large amounts with healthy results. However, we are unable to predict your bodies’ response. There may be elements of these plants not suitable for your particular biochemistry or condition. Only you can determine what’s best for you, in consultation with your health practitioner.

Trace Elements and Heavy Metals in Maine Coast Sea Vegetables
The presence of certain elements in sea vegetables causes alarm to some consumers. The following information addresses those fears. Critical to evaluating this question are 1) what form are these elements in, 2) the amounts, and 3) the historical or epidemiological evidence. Because sea vegetables are as low on the scientific research priority list as they are on the food chain, we have to infer in part from studies of other food groups, as well as use our native intelligence and intuition.
Sea vegetables contain a wide array of major minerals and trace elements, including lead, cadmium, arsenic, aluminum, zinc, chromium and many more. Small quantities in the right "organic" form are proven or estimated to be essential to human health. In the straight "inorganic" form and in excessive quantity, they can be toxic. Let's look at arsenic as an example.
Arsenic occurs in two basic forms, inorganic and organic. Inorganic arsenic occurs naturally (20th most abundant element in the earth's crust), and is found in pesticides, paint, and a host of manufactured chemical compounds. Inorganic arsenic is known to be toxic, causing skin lesions, organ damage, and promoting tumor growth, and, in acute overdose, is fatal.
Organic arsenic is presumed to be found in all living organisms. Vegetation absorbs the mineral from the soil (or in the case of sea vegetables, from the ocean) and transforms it into one of many forms of organic or colloidal arsenic. When creatures higher on the food chain eat these plants, this organic arsenic is further processed ("methylated" by the liver into further non-toxic forms, most of which is excreted through the urine. It is only when inorganic arsenic enters the body and lodges in organ tissue that toxic symptoms are observed. Though research is on-going, chronic toxicity from organic arsenic is unlikely, even in the instance of high shellfish consumption, where arsenic levels are briefly but dramatically elevated before being excreted.1
On the other hand, recent studies suggest that low levels of arsenic in human blood serum are correlated with central nervous disorders, vascular disease, and cancer. Animal studies have shown organic arsenic to be essential to heart and skeletal muscle function in goats, and beneficial in small amounts to a variety of laboratory animals. Recent work indicates that arsenic may have a role in methionine metabolism. Therefore, it is plausible to suggest that humans have an essential need for arsenic, at a computed requirement of 12 to 50µg (micrograms) per day.
Scientists looking at Japanese sea vegetables and consumption habits concluded that eating seaweed provided on average about 100 to 150 µg arsenosugar (a form of organic arsenic) per day.2 Even with this high intake, there are no reports that the Japanese population demonstrates chronic symptoms of arsenic toxicity due to sea vegetables.
Furthermore, the World Health Organization (WHO) Tolerable Weekly Intake for inorganic arsenic (As) is 50µg per kg of adult bodyweight.3 This would mean that someone weighing 150lbs could tolerate up to 3409µg of inorganic As per week or 487µg per day. So hypothetically, if a seaweed tested at 3µg/g or ppm of inorganic As, one would have to eat 162g or almost 6oz daily to exceed this WHO limit. Even the Japanese average much less than this. Maine Coast sea veggies always test less than 3ppm of inorganic As. We believe it's a reasonable conclusion that normal seaweed consumption does not pose a risk in terms of arsenic.
The same sort of reasoning applies to the other metals. They occur naturally; they are taken up and transformed by land or sea vegetation, and are utilized or excreted as needed by mammals and other animals. For example, aluminum is a very abundant metallic element, about 12% of the earth's crust and in the organic form is commonly found in vegetation. Beans contain 20-250 ppm, peppers and peanuts contain 50-200 ppm, corn and wheat contain 20-300 ppm. We can eat these without toxic consequences because metallic aluminum has been transformed by the plants metabolic process into its non-toxic organic, colloidal form. It’s even logical to suspect that our bodies, which evolved from the earth's elements, might have a use for this very common element in its organic form. Inorganic aluminum, however, is known to be toxic, and is implicated in Alzheimer's and breast cancer.
In 1989, a conversation with Dr. Ernest Foulkes, heavy metal researcher at the University of McGill in Montreal, focused on whether the bound organic metallic compounds in the human stomach (pH 1) are broken down at all – and, if so, how they may recombine in the small intestine (pH 6) with hundreds of chelating substances (proteins, amino acids, bile salts, complex carbohydrates) and pass harmlessly through the gut - just as studies show how arsenosugars are excreted in the urine after ingestion of arsenic in seafood.4
As there’s much yet to learn, we recommend that you consult a healthcare professional if you have any questions about your intake of heavy metals. (Dietary deficiencies and genetic variability, for instance, can effect how well an individual's metabolism changes arsenic to more organic forms, with implications for tissue distribution and toxicity.5 Furthermore, vocational or environmental exposure may impact one’s body load of metals and effect metabolic capacities.)
Please refer to our annual “Statement of Product Testing” for specific amounts of certain trace metals in our sea vegetables.
References:
1. Speciation of Six Arsenic Compounds in Korean Seafood Samples by HPLC-ICP-MS, Kyung Su Park et al, Ky Engineering Materials, Vols. 277-279 (2005) pp.431-437
2. Study of in vitro cytotoxicity of a water soluble organic arsenic compound, arsenosugar, in seaweed, Sakurai et al, Toxicology, 122 (1997) 205-212
3. WHO Tolerable Weekly Intakes for other inorganic elements: CD (cadmium) 7µg/kg adult weight; Hg (mercury) 5µg/kg adult weight; Pb (lead) 50µg/kg adult weight
4. Organoarsenical Species Contents in Fresh and Processed Seafood Products, M. Angeles Suner et al, J. Agric. Food Chem, 2002, 50, 924-932
5. FDA website: Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (re: arsenic & shellfish)
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What About Pollution?

Each year more people become concerned about the purity of our oceans and each year we receive more inquiries about the purity of our seaweed products. Fortunately, the northeastern end of the Gulf of Maine is still unindustrialized and relatively unpolluted. Nevertheless we continue to monitor possible chemical, heavy metal and bacteriological contaminants in our seaweeds, and we encourage other sea vegetable suppliers, particularly Asian ones, to do the same.

Chemicals

Each year we have all our seaweeds tested by the Maine Health and Environmental Testing Laboratories for 42 different chemical pollutants. These include PCB’s, hydrocarbons (petroleum products), 34 different insecticides, and 9 different herbicides. No unusual traces of any compound covered by these test procedures have been detected in our seaweeds.

Heavy Metals

Each harvest season the University of Maine’s Dept. of Food Science tests our seaweeds for the following heavy metals: lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium. We would like to report “no traces,” but that is an unrealistic expectation as these metals occur worldwide both naturally (leached from bedrock) and as industrial waste. Although the test levels vary somewhat from year to year, the average is very low measured against the United Nations FAO/WHO codex of Tolerable Daily Intake Limits. Nor are there any upward trends in the test results over many years.

When assessing the presence of heavy metals in seaweed bear in mind two factors. First, these FAO/WHO Limits assume daily consumption and few people actually eat large amounts of seaweed daily. And second, it’s not known to what extent these metals are bioavailable, if at all, during digestion. It is known that any heavy metals present in seaweed are strongly bonded with indigestible polysaccharides that pass through the body intact. Some studies indicate that seaweed may even help eliminate heavy metals already stored in the body.

Bacteria

We have regular microbiological testing at the University of Maine to make sure there are no harmful microorganisms occurring in the seaweed or occurring during the drying, storing or packaging process. All tests to date for Coliforms, E. coli, yeasts and molds have shown no unusual microbial activity.

We would be happy to supply you with copies of all past and present testing if you desire.

Shep Erhart, President
Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, Inc.

Thanks for all that good info elnatural_1!

Mercury (and many of the other things mensioned) is naturally occurring on this planet. Our problem is the lack of understanding we had when we first found it. Now we know better, but... it doesn't make the pollution go a way.

Thanks for posting your facts.

Ian.