AR-News: Political food fight over tuna warning

[jim robertson]

Political food fight over tuna warning

By Richard Simon

WASHINGTON — The federal government yesterday warned that pregnant women and 
young children should limit their intake of tuna and other types of seafood 
because the mercury content can harm developing nervous systems.

But the advisory by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also said tuna offers health benefits 
that should not be ignored.

That triggered a political food fight, with consumer and environmental 
groups complaining the advisory didn't go far enough, and a tuna-industry 
official accusing critics of trying to scare people away from a food that is 
low in fat.

A member of an FDA advisory group resigned in protest, saying the agency 
should have discouraged more strongly the consumption of albacore tuna by 
pregnant women.

"This message has to be a balance between the nutritional benefits of fish 
and the potential risks from exposure to mercury in fish," said Dr. David 
Acheson, chief medical officer of the FDA's center for food safety and 
applied nutrition. "That's where it gets difficult. Because you have to 
strike this balance."

Most people can and should eat fish frequently because of its high protein 
content and other nutrients, the federal advisory said. But women who are 
pregnant, nursing or might become pregnant should, "as a matter of 
prudence," limit consumption of fish likely to contain mercury to 12 ounces 
— or two average meals — a week.

The guidelines listed canned light tuna, shrimp, salmon, pollock and catfish 
as varieties that should be eaten in restricted quantities.

The same group of women, the advisory said, should consume no more than six 
ounces a week of albacore or white tuna, which has more mercury than canned 
light tuna.

Federal officials urged parents to follow the recommendations when feeding 
fish to young children, but to serve smaller portions. Because scientific 
data are inconclusive, the advisory did not specify how much smaller the 
portions should be, or the age range of children that should be covered.

According to the guidelines, pregnant women, nursing mothers, women planning 
to become pregnant and small children should avoid eating shark, swordfish, 
king mackerel and tilefish altogether because they contain high levels of 
mercury.




The guidelines come a month after an EPA analysis found that more than 
600,000 of the roughly 4 million babies born annually in the United States — 
double the previous estimate — may be exposed to dangerous levels of mercury 
in the womb. Mercury in children can cause neurological damage and learning 
problems.

Consumer and environmental groups yesterday called the advisory a generally 
positive step, but said the federal government should go further. They said 
warnings should be required on supermarket shelves and distributed to 
doctors' offices. And they urged officials to act more aggressively to 
reduce mercury pollution, especially from coal-burning power plants.

H. Vasken Aposhian resigned from his temporary position on an FDA 
food-safety advisory committee, complaining that the guidelines did not do 
enough to protect pregnant women and their fetuses.

Further information about the risks of mercury in fish is available from the 
FDA food information line (888-723-3366) or the agency's food-safety Web 
site (www.cfsan.fda.gov).



Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company




Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full 
breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit 
itself to humankind.
Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Peace Prize winner

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