Study Finds Routine Fish Eaters – Men, Women, Children – Poisoned with Mercury

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Study Finds Routine Fish Eaters – Men, Women, Children – Poisoned with Mercury

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Study Finds Routine Fish Eaters – Men, Women, Children – Poisoned with Mercury

FDA's Testing Failure Spells "Buyer Beware" for Diners and Shoppers

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 -/E-Wire/-- A study involving 116 middle- to high-income men and women in a San Francisco medical practice shows nearly 90 percent had blood levels of mercury surpassing EPA's safe levels – some by more than 17- fold. Mercury is a potent toxin to the brain and nervous system, with fetuses and children at greatest risk.

"Patients in my practice regularly get mercury poisoning from eating commercial seafood, "says Dr. Jane Hightower, the internal medicine physician who authored the study. The patients tested – who included surgeons and CEOs, psychiatrists and wine-makers, geophysicists and internet executives, and their children – were chosen based on their levels of fish consumption, or symptoms consistent with mercury poisoning, including depression, memory loss, confusion, tremors, metallic tastes, and hair loss.

Although her study didn't aim to correlate symptoms with mercury levels, when patients stopped consuming those fish their symptoms got better. The study appeared November 1 in the online version of the National Institutes of Health journal, Environmental Health Perspectives at http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2003/5837/abstract.html

"When it comes to buying seafood," adds Hightower, "the motto should be: 'Buyer beware'."

The majority of patients tested had levels at least twice the EPA safe level, while 16 percent exceeded it by 400 percent or more. The average blood mercury level for women tested was 15 ug/L, 3 times the EPA safe level and ten times higher than the average for the U.S. population, according to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The study likely will add fuel to the years-old controversy over whether the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates seafood mercury levels closely enough to protect public health—and especially populations most at risk like children and women of childbearing age.

"It's bad enough our favorite fish species are often too polluted to eat," says David Wallinga, MD, physician and Co-director of the Food and Health Program at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. "But instead of tracking the problem, FDA turns its back."

Public health and consumer groups complain the FDA's maximum allowable level for mercury in commercial fish, at 1 part per million (ppm), is too high. They also criticize FDA's four year-old moratorium on any mercury testing of commercial seafood.

"FDA's asleep at the wheel when it comes to testing seafood and warning the public," said Michael Bender, Director of the Mercury Policy Project. "Rather than protecting those most at risk—like pregnant women and children, and consumers who eat a lot of fish—it appears FDA is most intent on protecting the market share of the seafood industry."

Both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recognize mercury is a substantial public health problem, and recommend standards for allowable levels of mercury in fish that are five times more stringent than FDA standards.

The National Academy of Science estimates that every year approximately 60,000 newborns are born facing significant risks of disrupted development of the brain and nervous system, due to mothers with high fish consumption and mercury levels. New CDC findings also indicate that 8% of American women have blood mercury levels above what EPA considers safe for the developing fetus.

Hightower's study included seven children, six of whom had blood or hair levels of mercury exceeding recommended levels. Combined, the children reported eating ten types of fish, five of which were tuna products.

"The public deserves more from FDA, which they wrongly assume is looking out for the safety of food from the sea," adds Dr. Jane Hightower.

Based on new recommendations from its Food Safety Committee, the FDA is expected to soon come out with a new consumer advisory. The Committee recommended that FDA resume fish testing, add other high mercury seafood to its "do not consume" list and warn pregnant women and young children to limit their consumption of canned tuna, the most consumed fish in America.

In that regard, FDA already lags behind around ten U.S. states that warn pregnant women and – in some cases – young children to limit consumption to one or two cans of tuna per week (http://www.mercurypolicy.org/new/documents/MercuryContaminatedSeafood.pdf).

Fish accumulate methylmercury from the environment in muscle tissue. No food preparation or practical cooking method can remove it. Major sources of environmental mercury include coal-fired power plants, and the incineration or improper disposal of mercury-containing products, such as thermometers and switches.

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, www.iatp.org Mercury Policy Project, www.mercurypolicy.org

Mercury Policy Project

Michael Bender, Mercury Policy Project,

David Wallinga, M.D., Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy, (612) 870-3418.

http://http://www.mercurypolicy.org

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