News Coverage
Moms-to-be should limit tuna, panel says
FDA urged to expand warnings on mercury
Published July 24, 2002
WASHINGTON - The government should tell pregnant women to limit their consumption of tuna because of concern that eating lots of the fish could expose an unborn baby's developing brain to possibly harmful mercury levels, scientific advisers recommended Thursday.
It is not clear how much tuna women should eat, the advisers said - perhaps two 6-ounce cans a week if that is the only fish they eat, or a single can if other seafood, which also can contain mercury, is on their diet.
The panel urged the Food and Drug Administration to quickly study what proportion of the mercury in a woman's diet comes from tuna so more precise advice can be given.
The decision came at the conclusion of a three-day hearing prompted by complaints from environmental and consumer groups that the agency was not doing enough to protect women in their child-bearing years from exposure to mercury in tuna.
Mercury is toxic to the developing fetal brain.
Last year, the FDA warned pregnant women and women who may become pregnant to avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish - large, long-lived fish like tuna that eat smaller fish that may have mercury in their bodies. Even though the federal agency had planned to list tuna as a fish to avoid, it ultimately did not.
The Environmental Working Group brought this inconsistency to light earlier this year when it published revealing internal documents from the FDA obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
The decision to keep tuna off the advisory was made after FDA officials met with tuna industry representatives, said Mike Casey, a spokesman for the Environmental Working Group.
Tuna industry officials contend no evidence exists that their product is harmful to women and instead advocate that health studies show tuna has great nutritional value.