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Faroe islanders told to stop eating 'toxic' whales

3 December 2008

Chief medical officers of the Faroe Islands have announced that pilot whales are no longer fit for human consumption, because they are toxic – as revealed by research on the islanders themselves.

The remote Atlantic islands between Scotland and Iceland have been one of the last strongholds of traditional whaling, with thousands of small pilot whales killed every year, and eaten by most Faroese.

Anti-whaling groups have long protested, but the Faroese argue that whaling is part of their culture – an argument adopted by large-scale whalers in Japan and Norway.

In a statement to the islanders last week, however, chief medical…

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