Re: Mercury free fish? Alaskan?

[Guest guest]

This is all I know about fish and mercury. Perhaps it will help.

-Phyllis B.

[Autism-Mercury] re: mercury in seafood

> I think shrimp is generally not too bad; there are lists of the average

> levels in different types of fish.

> The following comes from the Environmental Working Group(EWG) that does

> a lot of research on mercury issues:

>

>

> The report found:

>

> - Pregnant women, nursing mothers and all women of

> childbearing age, should not eat tuna steaks, sea bass, Gulf

> Coast oysters, marlin, halibut, pike, walleye, white croaker

> and largemouth bass.

>

>

> - These women should eat no more than one meal a month

> combined of canned tuna, mahi mahi, blue mussel, Eastern

> oyster, cod, pollock, haddock, salmon from the Great Lakes,

> blue crab from the Gulf of Mexico, wild channel catfish and

> lake whitefish

>

>

> - The following fish are safer choices for avoiding

> mercury exposure: farmed trout or catfish, shrimp, fish

> sticks, flounder, wild Pacific salmon, croaker, haddock and

> blue crab from the mid-Atlantic.

>

>

> Media Contact: Chapin, Environmental Working Group,

> ;

> laura@...

> Bill , EWG California, ;

> bwalker@...

>

> ***********

>

> Report: Fish-mercury risk underestimated

> April 12, 2001

> Web posted at: 12:04 PM EDT (1604 GMT)

> WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A report issued Thursday says millions of pregnant

> women

> and their fetuses are at risk of serious health problems from exposure

> to

> mercury in fish.

> The report, prepared by the Environmental Working Group and the U.S.

> Public

> Interest Research Group, calls on the Food and Drug Administration to

> upgrade and strengthen its current mercury safeguards.

> The FDA in January recommended that shark, swordfish, king mackerel and

> tilefish not be eaten by pregnant women and women of childbearing age

> who

> might become pregnant. It also recommended that nursing mothers and

> young

> children steer clear of these fish.

> But the new report, " Brain Food: What Women Should Know About Mercury

> Contamination in Fish, " contends the recommendations do not go far

> enough to

> protect women and children from mercury contamination.

> It urges the FDA to add Gulf coast oysters and eight more types of fish

> to

> the list, including tuna, sea bass, halibut, marlin, pike and white

> croaker.

> In addition, the report says canned tuna, mahi-mahi, cod and pollack

> should

> not be eaten more than once a month.

> " The widespread contamination of fish with mercury has given its

> reputation

> as 'brain food' a new and disturbing connotation, " said Environmental

> Working Group analyst Jane Houlihan, principal author of the report.

> " Mercury is toxic to the developing fetal brain, and exposure in the

> womb

> can cause learning deficiencies and delay mental development in

> children. "

> Under the FDA's current recommendations, pregnant women can safely eat

> up to

> 12 ounces per week of cooked fish not on the risk list. But

> Wiles,

> the Environmental Working Group's senior vice president, said even that

> amount could cause problems.

> " Hundreds of thousands of women would get unsafe exposures to mercury if

>

> they followed the FDA's advice and ate freely of all fish in the food

> supply

> except the four that they've prohibited during pregnancy, " Wiles said.

> He said mercury contamination is equal to lead contamination as a public

>

> health issue affecting children.

> " It's a major public health failing on (the FDA's) part, " Wiles said,

> " and

> we feel quite strongly that they need to aggressively look into the

> problem

> of mercury contamination of fish, expand the list of fish that women

> need to

> avoid and get this information out to the medical community and to women

> in

> a much more aggressive way. "

> Wiles said he has discussed the report's findings with the FDA.

> Reached for comment, an FDA official told CNN that " based on the review

> of

> scientific data, FDA stands by our consumer advisory issued in January. "

>

> The Environmental Working Group says there are some fish considered safe

> for

> pregnant women, including farm-raised trout and catfish, shrimp, fish

> sticks, flounder (summer), wild pacific salmon, croaker, mid-Atlantic

> blue

> crab and haddock.

> The Environmental Protection Agency also issued a national advisory in

> January, but it covered only non-commercial, freshwater fish caught by

> sport

> fishermen in local waters. They recommended limiting fish consumption to

> one

> meal a week of 6 ounces of cooked fish for adults and 2 ounces for young

>

> children.

> According to the EPA, states are primarily responsible for protecting

> their

> residents from contaminated noncommercially caught fish. Almost 68

> percent

> of state-issued consumption advisories are a result of mercury

> contamination

> in fish and shellfish. Last December, the Clinton administration

> announced

> that mercury emissions from power plants pose a significant health

> hazard

> and proposed regulations to reduce them by 2004. An EPA official now

> says

> that decision is " under review " and that " no decisions have been made

> yet. "

> Mercury occurs naturally in the environment, but in the United States

> more

> mercury enters the air through industrial emissions, the biggest source

> being coal-fired power plants. Once there, the mercury enters waterways

> and

> accumulates in the muscle tissue of fish.

> Fish and other seafood products are the main source of methylmercury

> toxicity in humans, and fetuses are particularly vulnerable.

> The report is based is based on the examination of 53,000 records of

> mercury

> test results in fish from seven federal, state and other government

> sources.

>

> ********************

> Bernie

>

>

> =======================================================

>