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Can the Tuna - 2003/08/25 18:52
Press release from the Mercury Policy Project (www.mercurypolicy.org)
on its release of test results of canned tuna today, and its report.
Can the Tuna: FDA's Failure to Protect Children From Exposure to Mercury in Albacore "White" Canned Tuna
"One of every 20 cans of "white," or albacore, tuna should be recalled as unsafe for human consumption, according to independent testing conducted for MPP. "Our tests confirm what FDA has known for over a decade; white tuna has higher mercury levels," said MPP Director
Michael Bender (see press release and testing report). "Yet because
FDA halted testing of canned tuna for mercury in 1998 to save money and because industry keeps ts results secret, parents are unknowingly exposing their children to mercury."
Canned tuna is consumed in 90 percent of American households and accounts for around 20 percent of US seafood consumption. Children eat more than twice as much tuna as any other fish, and canned tuna is the most frequently consumed fish among women of child bearing age.
Albacore accounts for about one-third of all canned tuna sold in the
U.S. and MPP's independent testing found that mercury levels in white canned tuna averaged over 0.5 ppm. "FDA's own food safety committee recommended last year that the Agency warn pregnant women about canned tuna, but the Agency has failed to act because of undue influence by industry," said Bender. "FDA should stop protecting the fishing industry's profits and start protecting children from mercury." How much fish a person can eat before exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA's) "virtual safe limit," called a reference dose (RfD), depends on body weight and mercury content of the fish. For example:
*A 22 pound toddler eating only 2 ounces of tuna per week with a 0.5 ppm mercury concentration would have an intake over 4 times the EPA's RfD.
*If a woman with a typical weight of 132 lbs eats 12 ounces of canned tuna per week (the limit advised by FDA) with a 0.5 ppm mercury concentration, she will exceed by 4 times the EPA's RfD.
* An 88 pound child consuming one 6 ounce can of tuna with a 0.5 ppm mercury concentration weekly would be exposed to 3 times the EPA's
RfD standard.
These concerns, however, pale in comparison to the risks of prenatal mercury exposure; in utero fetuses are at risk of neurological impairment from methylmercury passing through the placental barrier. Nevertheless,
FDA scientists admitted that as many as 50 percent of women in the U.S.
have little or no knowledge of mercury exposure risks identified with eating fish.
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