Source: Blisstree Blog
Lee Porrazzo is suing BubmbleBee tuna
In perhaps the best-titled food news ever, Lee Porrazzo is suing BumbleBee tuna, claiming that he “had a tuna meltdown†due to mercury poisoning from their canned fish. The BMW salesman ate 10 cans of tuna per week for 2 years, until he was struck by chest pains and went to the hospital, thinking he was having a heart attack. When his doctor ordered a heavy metals blood test, it came back with alarmingly high mercury levels.
Porrazzo reasons that he ate such vast quantities of Bumblee’s tuna thinking it was a clean source of protein, and told the New York Post that “he started scarfing the seafood in January 2006 because Bumble Bee commercials called it ‘heart healthy’ and the brand was ‘usually on sale’ for $1 a can.†After his blood tests came back, he received a call from the New York State Health Department telling him that his mercury level was dangerously high, and that he should stop eating tuna.
He’s now suing Bumblebee and the supermarket chain that he bought it from for breach of warranty and negligence at the fish canning factory. “It changed my life,†he told the post.
“I haven’t been to the gym. I haven’t been able to do anything.†He also says that he’s lost about 30 pounds, and worries over the long term consequences of his mercury exposure. A Bumblebee spokesperson noted that there has never been a mercury toxicity case from eating commercial seafood in the U.S., and says that such a case might be alarmist and have adverse health effects for the public.
We don’t know how he was able to stomach that much tuna every week, but the whole fiasco brings to mind that old adage, “everything in moderationâ€â€¦
