While health advocates continue to press for stronger standards, the Republican staff of the House Resources Committee issued a report earlier this month asserting that the dangers of mercury are overblown. Environmental and public health groups are "crying wolf," said Committee Chair Richard Pombo (R-CA). [1]

Lost amidst the coverage of the year-long political battle is more definitive guidance for the average citizen about what she/he can do to minimize mercury's health dangers. All experts agree that the primary means of mercury exposure is through eating fish. The question many are asking is: what are the fish that pose the greatest health risks?

Last year the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), began recommending that women and children limits consumption of albacore tuna, which comprises 30% of all the canned tuna sold in the U.S. The Mercury Policy Project says that children eat twice as much tuna as any other fish. Women of child-bearing age are also frequent consumers of canned tuna. [2]

The FDA also advised caution regarding shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish. [3]

Health advocacy nonprofits such as the Environmental Working Group (EWG) have issued reports stating that FDA has underestimated the danger. "If women follow the FDA's advice and eat one can of albacore tuna a week," said an EWG report, "hundreds of thousands more babies will be exposed to mercury." [4]

Along with organizations such as NRDC, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, the Endangered Fish Alliance, Organic Consumers Association, and the Green Guide, EWG has compiled lists of fish that are least safe to eat, as well as those that pose little or no health risk.

For example, EWG's list of fish to be avoided by pregnant women includes shark, swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish, tuna steaks, canned tuna, sea bass, Gulf Coast oysters, marlin, halibut, pike, walleye, white croaker and largemouth bass.

In most cases the rule of thumb is to avoid the largest of the deep cold water ocean fish. They are at the top of the food chain, eating huge quantities of smaller fish that swim nearer the surface, which becomes polluted as mercury emissions from power plants drift down into the water.

The NRDC list calls for at-risk populations to avoid grouper, marlin, orange roughy, swordfish, tilefish, shark and king mackerel. A second-tier category lists other fish that are high in mercury and should be eaten in 6-ounce servings no more than three times per month.

That list includes saltwater bass, croaker, halibut, tuna (canned white albacore), tuna (fresh, bluefish, ahi), sea trout, bluefish and lobster (American, Maine). [5]

Despite the House Resources Committee charge that mercury risks are exaggerated by the public health community, impartial scientific and medical experts are in overwhelming agreement that mercury exposure is a serious health threat.

Prenatal and infant exposure can cause mental retardation, cerebral palsy, deafness, blindness, reduced attention span, and delayed onset of the ability to talk and walk. The EPA estimates that 630,000 children per year are born with unsafe levels of mercury.

In adults, mercury poisoning can adversely affect fertility and blood pressure regulation. It can also lead to memory loss, tremors, vision loss and numbness of the fingers and toes. A number of studies also link mercury exposure to heart disease.

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SOURCES:
[1] Mercury in Perspective, House Resources Committee Report.
[2] Mercury Policy Project website.
[3] FDA Press Release, Mar. 19, 2004.
[4] EWG Press Release, Mar. 19, 2004.
[5] NRDC Report: Mercury Contamination in Fish.