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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; Page A07

 

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 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, 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 Stephen L. Johnson and urged him to

fight the FDA's recommendations.

 

" This is an astonishing, irresponsible document, " said Richard 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. "

 

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. "

 

“We now know that a neo-conservative is an arsonist who sets the house on fire

and six years later boasts that no one can put it out.†- Bill Moyers