Debate Rages On Risk Of Mercury In Fish

FDA Wants To Promote Health Benefits Of Eating Fish; EPA Says Not So Fast

(AP)  For years, the federal government has recommended that pregnant women and young children limit their consumption of fish to avoid exposure to potentially harmful amounts of mercury.

Now, two top consumer protection agencies are at odds on whether that advice should be reconsidered to encourage all people to eat more fish, in order to promote healthy hearts.

The Food and Drug Administration has been circulating a draft report within the government that argues the health benefits of eating fish outweigh the potential ill effects of mercury. But the Environmental Protection Agency has fired off a memo to the White House calling the 270-page FDA study "scientifically flawed and inadequate" and an "oversimplification" lacking analytical rigor.

Environmental groups are crying foul. They say it's a sneak attempt to undercut important public health advice in the waning hours of a Bush administration that has treated science as a stepchild.

"The FDA was once a fearsome protector of the public health. Now it's nothing more than a patsy for polluters," Richard Wiles, executive director of the Environmental Working Group, said in a statement.

The food industry is praising the FDA's shift. One organization, the Center for Consumer Freedom, called it "long overdue and a huge public-health victory" that "just might be the best Christmas present health-conscious Americans could hope for."

The interagency feud spilled into the open Friday when the Environmental Working Group released copies of the dueling memos. The dispute was first reported by the Washington Post.

The FDA is embroiled in another controversy over the science of food safety. Recently, a panel of outside advisers challenged the agency on bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical used to make plastic for food packaging and other consumers goods. The independent experts said that FDA's conclusion that low doses of BPA are safe was scientifically flawed.

The battle over mercury is now attracting the interest of Congress. "FDA should not change anything it cannot back up with the best science, because we know that mercury can cause brain and cardiovascular damage," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee. "FDA should not play politics with the health of our families."

At the FDA, officials sought to tamp down the controversy and dispel concerns that the agency is about to toss out the government's current mercury guidance.

"It would be a mistake to assume that this draft report represents the FDA's official position because a final determination on these matters has not been reached," said spokesman Michael Herndon. "Following the discussion among government agencies, FDA intends to seek public comment. This will all be done in a very public and transparent manner, and the FDA will make no final determination until all the relevant comments and scientific analysis has been carefully considered."

Mercury occurs naturally and is also released in the environment through pollution. Very high levels in the bloodstream can damage the nervous system of developing fetuses and young children, causing learning disabilities and other problems. Fish absorb mercury in the water and as they feed on plankton and other smaller fish. Some fish, like king mackerel and swordfish, accumulate higher levels of mercury.

Fish and shellfish are the biggest sources of human exposure to mercury. Fetuses and young children are the most susceptible to harm. About 8 percent of U.S. women of childbearing age have enough mercury in their blood to be at risk of having babies with subtle learning disabilities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates.

Because of such concerns, the FDA and EPA have recommended that women of child-bearing age and young children not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish, which contain high levels of mercury. The agencies also advised that they eat no more than two meals a week of fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury, a total of 12 ounces. And since "white" albacore tuna has more mercury than chunk light tuna, they recommended no more than six ounces a week.

The FDA's draft report said the latest studies seem to indicate that the risks may not be as dire as previously thought. The agency also sought to weigh the risk of mercury against the benefits of eating more fish.

Current research suggests "a beneficial impact on fetal neurodevelopment from the mother's consumption of fish, even though they contain methylmercury," the report said.

"The net effect is not necessarily adverse, and could in fact be beneficial," it added.

But the EPA said, "this FDA report bases its conclusions on models that use very limited inputs from studies that have significant problems for risk analysis."

[garbosmed]

"FDA should not change anything it cannot back up with the best science, because we know that mercury can cause brain and cardiovascular damage," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee. "FDA should not play politics with the health of our families."

Um, Babs, ma''am? Your my Senator, and I love you, but PLEASE, for the love of all our children and our collective futures, OPEN YOUR BLEEPING EYES and realize that the FDA has been playing politics with the health of our families for the last 18+ years. Hold some hearings and let the sun shine in. Start with fudged testing data for vaccine and drug approvals, work your way up to rule-making that favors industry over health, and then address the lack of funding for meaningful oversight. Ask them why we still put mercury fillings into people''s mouths. Ask them why mercury is still in vaccines. Ask them why they allowed flawed clinical trials of Gardasil to cover up the adverse events associated with aluminum adjuvant. Ask them why they allow that adjuvant to be injected into babies when the pharmaceutical scientists themselves admit "we don''t really know how adjuvants work." Demand accountability. You have the power -- how about putting your money where your mouth is?

[lila356]

What a laugh, mercury, man if that''''s all you have to worry about in fish keep on eating it. It''''s what they don''''t tell you that will kill you dead. Nano materials have been made for the military for years called Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes, they are small enough in size to cross the blood brain barrier and kill you (usually brain cancer) it was thought these materials could be disposed of in water (lakes, streams, oceans) and the material would sink to the bottom, clump and be contained harmlessly. Very unfortunately they were wrong in this assumption. The fish are being contaminated and the CDC is just sitting on their hands. Are you really surprised?

Posted by HETUP at 01:24 PM : Dec 13, 2008

Not to mention massive chemical (Chemtrail) Spraying happening all over the USA and the world, thanks to our DOD, DOE and others. We are being attacked on a daily basis to make us sick. Morgellon''s, cancer and more.

[heero78-2009]

So for fat people that means eat more big mac and less filet o fish.

[strangeworld]

After Reagan gutted the US food inspection processes, our food has gotten progressively more contaminated. I wouldn''t believe one thing that any republican administration tells you about product safety - their decisions are made solely on how much money business makes and if US citizens get poisoned in the process, republican politicians could care less.

[clathrate]

Anymore I don''t believe a thing coming out of the FDA. Does Vioxx ring a bell?

Typical Bushmonkey nonsense.

[shanev137]

All soil contains lead, arsenic and mercury.

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More so in red states.

[downsteamjim]

This is a plot by McDonalds, BK et al to keep us eating junk food. Another possiblility is that Barbara Boxer ate too many fish.

[theworker1]

What about fish that is imported from China? Most is grown in ponds that are feed by human waste! All of Sam''s Club fish is imported, most from China.The U.S.D.A. is doing very little inspecting of the fish being imported. The health risk is far more severe than the controversy of mercury.

[legacyabq]

Oh god not the FDA..
The worst governmental agency in the federal pantheon..

[my2centss]

"Very high levels in the bloodstream can damage the nervous system of developing fetuses and young children, causing learning disabilities and other problems."

"Thimerosal is a mercury-containing preservative used in some vaccines and other products since the 1930s."
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/thimerosal.htm

What have we allowed them to do to the children?

[bhappy2-2]

Is anyone as concerned about the risk of our rights being eliminated by rewriting the Constitution as they are about mercury? Read this:

http://www.congresscheck.com/2008/12/12/globalist-constitutional-convention-dealt-a-defeat-in-ohio/

No major news agency is reporting this. WHY NOT?

[juwboy]

Let`s not forget that the human body has a mechanism for ridding itself of traces of the toxic metals, lead, arsenic and mercury.

Human urine, ALL human urine, contains detectable traces of lead, arsenic and mercury.

This assumption that mercury occurs naturally must not take in the fact that Coal Power Plants are dumping mercury daily on all of us and are the main culprit of mercury in our fish. Let''s not forget the FDA allowing this poison to be put into our teeth.

[kurlikew]

Of course the studies are flawed and inadequate - that''s because the FDA is bought and paid for by the very industries it''s supposed to be regulating. NO amount of mercury is safe, and even your metal dental fillings are leeching mercury into your body every single day.

[juwboy]

Food, ALL food, contains detectable traces of the toxic metals, lead, arsenic and mercury.

Why?

All soil contains lead, arsenic and mercury.

Everywhere on Earth.

It always has and it always will.

Plants grow in soil, so they take up lead, arsenic and mercury from it.

Animals eat plants, we eat plants and animals, so we ingest lead, arsenic and mercury.

Even human breast milk contains detectable traces of lead, arsenic and mercury.

So, ingestion of lead, arsenic and mercury is unavoidable and always has been.

The Earth`s poulation is increasing despite its intake of lead, arsenic and mercury.

So, eat, drink and be merry!

[wingnutsblow]

"About 8 percent of U.S. women of childbearing age have enough mercury in their blood to be at risk of having babies with subtle learning disabilities"

Future Republicans.

[shanev137]

The FDA under Bush is the worst it''s ever been in America''s history.

[smurfcrusher]

How refreshing that at least one governmental agency is looking out for the consumers, instead of serving as stooges for an environmentally ignorant president.

[ofbyfor3]

Larger, fatty fish, like tuna, generally contain the highest levels of mercury, since they are higher up the food chain feeding on smaller fish and mercury seems more likely to remain in fattier fishes.

But the gov''t has pretty good guidelines for describing which fish are safer and the amounts that they recommend, primarily for pregnant woman and children.