FDA Urges Pregnant Women to Consume More Mercury-Laced Seafood

[Guest guest]

Published on Environmental Working Group (http://www.ewg.org)

FDA Urges Pregnant Women to Consume More Mercury-Laced Seafood

Washington Post, Lyndsey Layton

Published December 12, 2008

The Food and Drug Administration is urging the government to amend its advisory

that women and children should limit how much fish they eat, saying that the

benefits of seafood outweigh the health risks and that most people should eat

more fish, even if it contains mercury.

If approved by the White House, the FDA's position would reverse the

government's current policy that certain groups -- women of childbearing years,

pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and children -- can be harmed by the

mercury in fish and should limit their consumption.

The FDA's recommendations have alarmed scientists at the Environmental

Protection Agency, who in internal memos criticized them as " scientifically

flawed and inadequate " and said they fell short of the " scientific rigor

routinely demonstrated by EPA. "

The FDA sent its draft report, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington

Post, to the White House Office of Management and Budget as part of the FDA's

effort to update the existing health advisory. The report argued that nutrients

in fish, including omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and other minerals could boost

a child's IQ by three points.

The greatest benefits, the FDA report said, would come from eating more than 12

ounces of fish a week, which is the current limit advised for pregnant women,

women of childbearing age, nursing mothers and young children.

FDA spokesman Herndon declined to discuss the draft report. " As a

science-based regulatory agency we periodically and routinely review and analyze

scientific evidence about health effects of FDA-regulated products, " he wrote in

an e-mail. " We do not comment on draft reports that are undergoing internal

review. "

H. Grumbles, the EPA's assistant administrator for water, said, " EPA is

working closely with other agencies in the scientific review of this report to

better understand the risks and benefits of fish consumption. "

The FDA and the EPA both play a role in protecting the public from mercury

contamination. The EPA investigates and regulates mercury and other contaminants

in recreationally caught fish, while the FDA regulates mercury in seafood sold

in markets and restaurants. States rely on the federal agencies in issuing their

own advisories.

In 2004, the two agencies issued their first joint advisory, suggesting that

women of childbearing age, pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and children

stop eating four species of fish considered especially high in mercury:

swordfish, shark, tilefish and king mackerel. At the same time, the government

advised limiting consumption of other mercury-contaminated fish.

Mercury can damage the neurological development of fetuses and infants. Recent

studies have suggested that mercury may also pose a health risk for adults,

including an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The two agencies are supposed to work together to regularly review the advisory,

but EPA sources said the FDA went ahead with its own proposal earlier this year,

not consulting the EPA until the document was nearly finished.

The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization, wrote yesterday to

EPA Administrator L. and urged him to fight the FDA's

recommendations.

" This is an astonishing, irresponsible document, " said Wiles, the

environmental group's executive director. " It's a commentary on how low FDA has

sunk as an agency. It was once a fierce protector of America's health, and now

it's nothing more than a patsy for polluters. "

Mahaffey, who was the EPA's top mercury scientist until she left the

agency in August to become a lecturer at Washington University School of

Public Health, said the FDA used an " oversimplified approach " that could

increase the public's exposure to mercury.

But Gavin Gibbons, a spokesman for the National Fisheries Institute, applauded

the FDA's efforts. " This is a science-based approach, " he said. " And you start

to see a picture emerge that shows the clear benefits of eating seafood outweigh

the risks of a trace amount of mercury in fish. "

------------------------------------------------------------

Business Phone System

Click here for free information on business phone systems from top companies.

http://tagline.excite.com/fc/BK72PcZcFw821hxOvY7JUuZX4aRTj3QUFFTnw7bvX6WGMsfC7VE\

WCc/