Go ahead, eat that tuna

[Guest guest]

Note that the study was conducted by researchers affiliated with the U

of Rochester, which remains tainted by its collaboration with the CDC in

whitewashing thimerosal. I find myself wondering, it tuna binging only

injured 1 in 100 or 1 in 150, did the U Rochester study have the power

to detect percentages that small. ???

* * * *

Go ahead, eat that tuna

New study shows no intellectual damage in teens exposed to high levels

of mercury while in the womb

BY JAMIE TALAN

STAFF WRITER

February 20, 2006

http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hsmerc204634661feb20,0,6444268.story

They ate fish during pregnancy - lots of it. Their children are now

teenagers and show no signs that their high levels of mercury exposure

while in the womb led to any problems with intellectual development.

" Everyone on this team was so sure that we would find adverse effects

from high levels of mercury, " said Philip W. son, professor of

pediatrics, environmental medicine and psychiatry at the University of

Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. " It was a shock. We didn't

believe it. The kids are almost 16 and we still have yet to see a problem. "

son's work was presented at the American Association for the

Advancement of Science meeting in St. Louis. He and colleagues from the

Ministry of Health in Seychelles have been following 770 children whose

mothers were tested during pregnancy for their exposure to mercury from

fish. Women from this group of islands in the western Indian Ocean

consume 10 times the fish that Americans do.

The study was designed to test the effects of mercury on the developing

fetus and then follow the child to see if it affected development. The

concern was born in the 1950s when a factory in Japan dumped high levels

of mercury in the water, which led to children born with developmental

abnormalities. This was an acute poisoning from massive levels of

mercury, but it left open another question: Can low level, chronic

mercury exposure be harmful to the developing fetus?

" This is good news, " said Conrad Shamlaye, an epidemiologist with the

Ministry of Health in Seychelles. " If people ate 10 times the level of

fish with no problem, then Americans should not worry about consuming fish. "

There continues to be controversy over mercury exposure - both from fish

and from man-made pollutants. The Food and Drug Administration has

studied the issue and has tried to educate the public about the

importance of the nutrients in fish while trying to minimize exposure to

mercury.

Many environmental groups have advised that pregnant women and children

younger than 6 limit their intake of canned tuna, fresh tuna, swordfish

and shark. These environmentalists say the FDA's evaluation program for

mercury contamination is inadequate.

Mercury enters the atmosphere and drops into lakes, streams, rivers and

oceans. But about 85 percent of the mercury pollution in the United

States is caused by power plants that burn coal and incinerators that

burn trash that contains mercury.

The Rochester group has continued to conduct neuropsychological tests on

these children.

" We have seen problems in other studies, " said Babbie, a senior

environmental policy analyst for the New York Public Interest Research

Group. " It is incumbent to act on the side of caution. "

son said that there could be several explanations for the

surprising findings. For one thing, the amount of mercury consumed from

fish " may be just too low to cause problems, " he said. This study found

high levels of mercury in tests of the mothers' hair, a good indicator

of what both mothers and fetuses were exposed to. Another possibility:

Fish may contain micronutrients that support the developing brain and

prevent the potential problems of mercury exposure.

The team has been doing another study in the same region on another

group of pregnant mothers and their children, who are now about 4. In

addition to studying mercury levels, they also studied the blood for

other nutrients from fish, including omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6 fatty

acids, taurine, choline and protein.

For [business-oriented] government guidelines on fish consumption see:

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/admehg3.html

chicago tribune photo

Americans may have less to fear from tuna sandwiches.

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