Japan’s ‘toxic’ dolphin meat contains mercury up to 100 times safe level, test shows

Fishermen drive bottle-nose dolphins into a net during their annual hunt off Taiji in Japan. A conservation group has lodged a complaint demanding dolphin meat is removed from sale. Photograph: AP

Marine conservation campaigners have lodged a complaint with police demanding that “toxic” dolphin meat be removed from sale in Japan, after a test showed a sample contained levels of mercury up to 100 times higher than the government’s recommended safe level.

Action for Dolphins (AFD), a nonprofit based in Australia, filed the complaint with police in central Japan this month, amid expert warnings that regular consumption of dolphin meat could threaten the health of consumers.