As much as half of Bermuda babies may be carrying dangerous levels of mercury in their systems, said a visiting health expert last week, who warned expectant mothers about the dangers of eating certain types of fish.

Eric Dewailly, a professor of medicine at Laval University in Quebec, Canada, was in Bermuda to give two talks at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI) about ocean health and the benefits and risks of eating seafood.

Dr. Dewailly, is a specialist in Public Health in France and Canada and holds an MD and a Ph.D in Human Toxicology.

In 2003 Dr. Dewailly started a study on mercury levels in Bermuda fish at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) using a mobile laboratory called ?Atlantis?. He hopes to soon finish it.

?We found high levels of mercury in some types of fish in Bermuda, and we were concerned about how this was affecting some segments of the population,? Dr. Dewailly said. ?We were concerned about how this might be affecting the population. We started testing the blood of Bermuda babies and found that as much as half of the babies tested had mercury levels 50 percent higher than what is recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).?

Some scientists have linked foetal mercury exposure to learning deficits and delayed mental development.

The US National Academy of Sciences panel warned last year that babies exposed to mercury in the womb may ?struggle to keep up in school and who might require remedial classes of special education?.

?There is something we can do about this,? said Dr. Dewailly. ?Mercury presents the most danger to babies at the end of pregnancy, so if a woman stops eating certain fish when she finds out she is pregnant she can reduce her mercury levels.

?It is important to note that fish also contains nutrients that are essential to pregnant women. The fish to watch out for are basically the big predator fish such as wahoo, mahi mahi, swordfish, tuna, groupers, snappers, and shark.

?Bermudians should look at eating other types of fish,? said Dr. Dewailly. ?The smaller fish usually aren?t a danger. Maybe Bermudians could eat chub.?

Swordfish in particular, has very high levels of mercury. However, mercury is only a risk to pregnant mothers.

?We are hoping to complete our fish assessment to see which fish in Bermuda have high levels of mercury,? Dr. Dewailly said. ?So far, it is a very limited assessment. Once we have a complete picture of the situation of mercury in fish we will know better what is going on. We hope to complete that within the next 12 months and then we will be able to produce a pamphlet to explain and train people.

?I know that the BBSR are working on the source ? where the mercury is coming from. As a physician I am more interested in what we eat.?

Dr. Dewailly said he is interested in the link between people and the ocean for a number of different reasons. He said that people living on islands and coastal communities are like ?canaries in the coal mine? acting as an early warning sign of environmental change.

?On earth the people who are most closely related to the environment are islanders, because they eat the fish and they swim in the water,? he said. ?Any change in the environment, any contamination of the food chain, they would be the first to feel the effects.

?It is the same with climate change. When there is any change in weather, an increase in storms, for example, they are the first to feel it.?

Dr. Dewailly has been to Bermuda several times to conduct research. While in Bermuda in 1998, Dr. Dewailly was asked by the government to do a study on the effects of the Airport dump on the environment. Those findings were put into a report and given to the Government.

?They said the priority was the Airport dump,? Dr. Dewailly said.

?So we submerged scallops in cages close to the dump and then close to two controlled sites, one being North Rock, and looked at the effect on health and accumulation of contaminants in scallops. We looked at what was the effect on the scallop.?

Scientists found a significant difference in the toxin levels in scallops nearer the Airport dump.

?We found a huge difference in the general toxicity of the genes which has to do with cancer for humans,? he said.

?We found a lot of breaks in chromosomes. Our conclusion was that this dump is not well contained. We told the Government about this and they decided to do something about it.?

Another concern for Dr. Dewailly and his team was the quality of drinking water in Bermuda tanks.

?When we did the study on drinking water our conclusion was that the drinking water is not very safe in general,? said Dr. Dewailly.

?The reason being is that there is animal matter on the roof. There are some improvements needed to be sure that Bermudians are drinking clean water.?

He said you never know what animal is defecating on your roof, and more studies are needed to look at the health of Bermuda?s drinking water.

?The quality of drinking water is so fragile, and in Bermuda it is exposed to everything,? said Dr. Dewailly.

?There are probably some nice and easy ways to mitigate the problems. If I lived here I would put an ultraviolet lamp in the tank.

?I would also arrange it so that after a big rain, the first 20 litres go out of the tank not in the tank. This allows contaminants to be washed away rather than go into the tank. If you use the world health guidelines, the water in Bermuda is not very good.?

Dr. Dewailly admitted that the danger probably wasn?t life-threatening, but simply increased the risk of stomach upsets.

?Nobody ever looked at the incidence of gastroenteritis in Bermuda,? he said.

?How many kids are sick from tank water? It is possible that people have some immunity, but we don?t know. It is difficult to say because most people don?t go to the hospital when they have a stomach upset.?