[blparent] Bennifits of eating fish outweigh mercery risk

Fri Dec 12 13:29:24 UTC 2008

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FDA Draft Report Urges Consumption of Fish, Despite Mercury
Contamination
By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 12, 2008; A07
The Food and Drug Administration
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Food+and+Drug+Administr
ation?tid=informline>  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
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/The+White+House?tid=inf
ormline> , 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
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/U.S.+Environmental+Prot
ection+Agency?tid=informline> , 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
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/The+Washington+Post+Com
pany?tid=informline> , to the White House Office of Management and
Budget
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/U.S.+Office+of+Manageme
nt+and+Budget?tid=informline>  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 Michael 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."
Benjamin H. Grumbles
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Benjamin+H.+Grumbles?ti
d=informline> , 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
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Environmental+Working+G
roup?tid=informline> , an advocacy organization, wrote yesterday to EPA
Administrator Stephen L. Johnson
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Stephen+L.+Johnson?tid=
informline>  and urged him to fight the FDA's recommendations.
"This is an astonishing, irresponsible document," said Richard Wiles
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Richard+Wiles?tid=infor
mline> , 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."
Kathryn Mahaffey, who was the EPA's top mercury scientist until she left
the agency in August to become a lecturer at George 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."
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