News Coverage
Mothers-to-be, children warned: Limit tuna in diet
Published March 20, 2004
NO more than one six-ounce can of albacore tuna should be eaten per week by expectant mothers, women who may become pregnant or young children, to limit their exposure to mercury in fish, federal health and environmental regulators said yesterday.
The decision marks the first time canned tuna - the second-most-popular seafood in the American diet - has been included in the federal mercury health advisory, after more than a decade of debate among public health experts, the commercial fishing industry and consumer and environmental activists.
Yesterday's joint announcement by the Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency stressed that "fish and shellfish can be important parts of a healthy and balanced diet."
When women and children in the at-risk population dine on tuna, "they should choose light over white," said Dr. Michael Gochfeld, a mercury researcher at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute in Piscataway. The advisory was last updated in January 2001. The newly revised health advice offers more detailed guidance, suggesting other fish species - such as catfish, salmon and America's favorite seafood, shrimp - that are low in mercury. Canned light tuna, which has lower trace levels of mercury than white albacore tuna, may be eaten more frequently by women and children, as part of a diet that federal officials stressed can include a mix of up to 12 ounces of fish per week.
Lingering debate
Public health officials have long faced the dilemma of weighing mercury risk against the positive health benefits of eating fish, and the seafood industry has warned there's a risk of mercury warnings turning people off from fish altogether.
Swordfish, shark, tilefish and king mackerel are already on the list to be avoided altogether by childbearing women, nursing mothers and young children, according to the federal health advisory. Those long-lived marine fish tend to accumulate an organic form of mercury, called methylmercury, which can have harmful effects on the neurological development of unborn fetuses and children, according to the Food and Drug Administration. "We're pleased that the EPA and FDA recognize that canned tuna is safe," said Randi Thomas of the U.S. Tuna Foundation, a seafood industry group. "When you look at the FDA's own (definition of) serving size, they say two ounces" - about the equivalent of three small sandwiches a week from a six-ounce can, Thomas said.
Critics: Advisory flawed
Critics said that new guideline isn't cautious enough, and contended regulators should recommend no more than one can of albacore a month for a wider margin of safety."They've fallen so far short of what the public needs," said Jane Houlihan, vice president for research with the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based group that pushed for stricter advisory language. The FDA should be suggesting more alternative, lower-mercury seafood sources "instead of explicitly instructing women to eat albacore," Houlihan said. But the new advisory is still a long-overdue improvement, said Gochfeld. "Six ounces of albacore is probably pushing it," said Gochfeld, who sits on New Jersey's mercury task force, and recently conducted a canned tuna study with professor Joanna Burger of Rutgers University.
Their report, published in December, found that albacore in white tuna had mean mercury levels of 0.407 parts per million, well above the 0.17 ppm level the FDA used for years in its risk assessment and public information. In contrast, canned light tuna had a mean mercury level of 0.132 ppm. The Environmental Working Group's Lauren Sucher said hers and other environmental organizations have recently put up online "seafood calculators," to present what they say are safer limits for consumption of fish with higher traces of methylmercury. Her group's calculator, Sucher said, "tells me I can eat 3.3 ounces a week of albacore, assuming I eat no other fish - zero."
Thomas said online calculators that don't adjust for childbearing women and children won't accurately reflect methylmercury margins of safety. "The EPA reference is for the most sensitive part of the population, and that is the unborn fetus," she said.
Less risk for others
In their study, Burger and Gochfeld concluded "that people who are not in high-risk categories (most adults and adolescents) may consume several cans of light tuna a week and white tuna occasionally with impunity." Eating a variety of seafood and fish is the best answer, said Gochfeld, who describes himself as an avid fish consumer.
"People who are eating fish frequently, about every day, have to be attentive to what they eat," he said. While "really serious fish eaters" often love swordfish and tuna, they can get variety from many affordable alternatives with lower mercury traces, such as tilapia and salmon, he said.