Sargassum analysis reveals high levels of arsenic, heavy metals
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/high-levels-of-arsenic-heavy-metals/
Mexico News Daily / June 12, 2019
“Better think twice before cooking up a pot of sargassum stew.
Scientists in Mexico and the United States have detected high levels of arsenic and heavy metals in sargassum that washed up on Quintana Roo beaches.
Rosa Elisa Rodríguez Martínez, a researcher at UNAM’s reef systems unit in Puerto Morelos, said the “serious levels” of arsenic and heavy metals such as cadmium represent a risk to both human and animal health.
She said that arsenic levels 60% higher than those permitted in human and animal food products were detected in the sargassum samples taken from beaches in Puerto Morelos and Playa del Carmen in the north of the state and Othón P. Blanco in the south.
Rodríguez said heavy metal levels as high as 120 parts per million were detected in some of the samples.
She explained that the scientists who carried out the tests sought the assistance of nutrition experts to determine whether the seaweed could still be used as fodder for livestock or compost....”
Brigada de limpieza en playa Coral, en Cancún, Quintana Roo. (EFE)