|
Catch of the day is, er, mercury
Government says women children should eat less fish
By Douglas Fischer, STAFF WRITER
Tri-Valley Herald
20th March 2004
Concerns about mercury in seafood have prompted the federal government to add a caveat to an adage: Fish is good for you, up to a point.
New federal guidelines issued Friday warn that high levels of mercury in some fish pose a risk to children and nursing and pregnant women.
The warning affirms earlier government advisories on the pollutant but puts agencies overseeing the nation's food supply and environment in a bind as they balance that risk against the considerable contributions fish makes to a healthy, balanced diet.
"This is not all about mercury," said Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which issued the guidelines jointly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"Mercury is part of this," he said. "What we're doing is protecting public health in the grand scheme of things. And good nutrition is part of public health."
Activists immediately lambasted the new advisory as too lax and called for the Bush administration to take more aggressive steps to curb mercury emissions. They took particular exception to the lack of stronger warnings against canned albacore tuna, which the FDA has found to contain higher mercury concentrations than canned light tuna but nonetheless recommends.
In the U.S., coal-fired power plants and automobiles are among the primary sources of mercury pollution.
Children, infants and women of childbearing age are particularly vulnerable to mercury, a neurotoxin that harms foetal development and affects motor skills, memory, learning capacity and cognitive growth in children. They are the focus of the guidelines, and those not singled out, such as men, should continue to include fish in their diets because of its benefits, Acheson said.
“No one should have to chose between eating fish and protecting the health of their children”, said Dr. Gina Solomon, senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “If we want to make fish fit for everybody to eat, no matter where they live, we need to keep toxic mercury out of the environment”.
The American Heart Association, for instance, recommends people eat fish at least twice a week, even more often for those diagnosed with heart disease.
With risk levels so low -- and the benefit so high -- health officials worry uncertainty generated by activists' warnings could scare people away from eating fish. “Then they miss out on the benefit”, Acheson said. “Canned tuna has good stuff in it”.
The FDA and EPA offered three guidelines for women and children:
Do not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury.
Do eat up to 12 ounces -- two average meals -- a week of a variety of fish and shellfish with low mercury concentrations, such as shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, catfish or freshwater trout.
Check local advisories when eating locally caught fish. The state's advisory for fish from San Francisco Bay suggests one serving -- six ounces -- per month for women and children.
Acheson said the method of preparing food makes no difference in its mercury level. He also noted that processed fish, such as fish sticks and fast-food fish sandwiches, are usually made of pollock, which is low in mercury.
The government's mercury advisory, as well as mercury levels in commercial fish and shellfish, can be found at www.fda.gov Information on the San Francisco Bay's fish advisory is at www.oehha.ca.gov/fish.html
Contact Douglas Fischer at dfischer@angnewspapers.com .
Top
|
