The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

eaching action could be decided upon and put into effect.From the standpoint of publicizing the food pollution problem, thisconference could be said to have been successful. But like the othermeetings, the discussions degenerated into a series of highly technicalreports by research specialists and personal accounts of the horrors offood contamination. No one seemed willing to address the problem at itsfundamental level.In a discussion of mercury poisoning of tuna, for example, therepresentative of the Fisheries Bureau first spoke of how trulyfrightening the problem had become. At that time mercury pollution wasbeing discussed every day on the radio and in the newspapers, and soeveryone listened closely to hear what he had to say.The speaker said that the amount of mercury in the bodies of tuna,even those taken in the Antarctic Ocean and near the North Pole, wasextremely high. However, when a laboratory specimen taken severalhundred years ago was dissected and analyzed, this fish, contrary toexpectation, also obtained mercury. His tentative conclusion suggestedthat mercury consumption was necessary for the fish to live.The people in the audience looked at each other in disbelief. Thepurpose of the meeting was supposed to have been to determine how todeal with the pollution which had already contaminated the environment,and to take measures to correct it. Instead, here was this representativefrom the Fisheries Bureau saying that mercury is necessary for the tuna'ssurvival. This is what I mean when I say that people do not grasp the rootcause of pollution but only see it from a narrow and superficialperspective.I stood up and suggested that we take joint action to set up, then andthere, a concrete plan to deal with80