Concerns raised over tuna intake

Edmonton Journal, Marta Gold
Published October 19, 2001

Consumer, health and environmental groups are warning pregnant women, nursing mothers and children to limit their consumption of what many have long considered a healthy dietary staple -- canned tuna. The American Academy of Pediatrics is among the many U.S. organizations advising about the consumption limits because of concerns about mercury levels in tuna and the potential effects on children and developing fetuses. The Centre for Science in the Public Interest and Consumer Reports magazine both advise pregnant women not to eat more than one can of tuna per week. Children, depending on their weight, should eat even less. The Environmental Working Group, a U.S. public-interest research organization, recommends pregnant women eat no more than one meal per month of canned tuna -- assuming they are eating no other variety of mercury-contaminated fish. "I don't think most consumers are aware of this," says Jeffery Foran, a toxicologist and president of the Wisconsin-based Citizens for a Better Environment, an environmental advocacy group which has done a lot of work on the issue of mercury in fish. "My kids are ages seven and nine, and I don't let them eat tuna, canned or fresh," says Foran. "Given the data I'm aware of, I think that's a reasonable approach." Dr. Michael Shannon, of the American Academy of Pediatrics, says the recent advisories are largely a result of new research showing children and fetuses are much more susceptible than adults to the toxic effects of mercury. "Because of that research, it's been necessary to really reduce substantially what we thought was the allowable amount. It's something that's really been driven by better science." He says many of his patients have heard the warnings and are asking him about them. "In the States -- perhaps not so much in Canada -- everyone's talking about it -- all the parents are talking about it." Health Canada issued a warning earlier this year for some people to limit their consumption of fresh tuna, but specifically exempted canned tuna from the advisory, saying its mercury levels typically fall below allowable limits. Simply measuring the amount of mercury in fish flesh, as Health Canada and the FDA do, doesn't tell the whole story, says David Schindler, a professor of aquatic ecology at the University of Alberta. "The danger of that is that they have to assume the size of the person and the size of the portion they eat are both average. A person who loves fish can eat 10 times the average portion."