[PHNUTR-L] FDA Draft Report Urges Consumption of Fish, Despite Mercury Contamination

[Kathrynne Holden]

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FDA Draft Report Urges Consumption of Fish, Despite Mercury Contamination

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 12, 2008; A07

The Food and Drug Administration is urging the government to amend its 
advisory that women and children should limit how much fish they eat, 
saying that the benefits of seafood outweigh the health risks and that 
most people should eat more fish, even if it contains mercury.

If approved by the White House, the FDA's position would reverse the 
government's current policy that certain groups -- women of childbearing 
years, pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and children -- can be 
harmed by the mercury in fish and should limit their consumption.

The FDA's recommendations have alarmed scientists at the Environmental 
Protection Agency, who in internal memos criticized them as 
"scientifically flawed and inadequate" and said they fell short of the 
"scientific rigor routinely demonstrated by EPA."

The FDA sent its draft report, a copy of which was obtained by The 
Washington Post, to the White House Office of Management and Budget as 
part of the FDA's effort to update the existing health advisory. The 
report argued that nutrients in fish, including omega-3 fatty acids, 
selenium and other minerals could boost a child's IQ by three points.

The greatest benefits, the FDA report said, would come from eating more 
than 12 ounces of fish a week, which is the current limit advised for 
pregnant women, women of childbearing age, nursing mothers and young 
children.

FDA spokesman Michael Herndon declined to discuss the draft report. "As 
a science-based regulatory agency we periodically and routinely review 
and analyze scientific evidence about health effects of FDA-regulated 
products," he wrote in an e-mail. "We do not comment on draft reports 
that are undergoing internal review."

Benjamin H. Grumbles, the EPA's assistant administrator for water, said, 
"EPA is working closely with other agencies in the scientific review of 
this report to better understand the risks and benefits of fish 
consumption."

The FDA and the EPA both play a role in protecting the public from 
mercury contamination. The EPA investigates and regulates mercury and 
other contaminants in recreationally caught fish, while the FDA 
regulates mercury in seafood sold in markets and restaurants. States 
rely on the federal agencies in issuing their own advisories.

In 2004, the two agencies issued their first joint advisory, suggesting 
that women of childbearing age, pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants 
and children stop eating four species of fish considered especially high 
in mercury: swordfish, shark, tilefish and king mackerel. At the same 
time, the government advised limiting consumption of other 
mercury-contaminated fish.

Mercury can damage the neurological development of fetuses and infants. 
Recent studies have suggested that mercury may also pose a health risk 
for adults, including an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The two agencies are supposed to work together to regularly review the 
advisory, but EPA sources said the FDA went ahead with its own proposal 
earlier this year, not consulting the EPA until the document was nearly 
finished.

The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization, wrote 
yesterday to EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson and urged him to fight 
the FDA's recommendations.

"This is an astonishing, irresponsible document," said Richard Wiles, 
the environmental group's executive director. "It's a commentary on how 
low FDA has sunk as an agency. It was once a fierce protector of 
America's health, and now it's nothing more than a patsy for polluters."

Kathryn Mahaffey, who was the EPA's top mercury scientist until she left 
the agency in August to become a lecturer at George Washington 
University School of Public Health, said the FDA used an "oversimplified 
approach" that could increase the public's exposure to mercury.

But Gavin Gibbons, a spokesman for the National Fisheries Institute, 
applauded the FDA's efforts. "This is a science-based approach," he 
said. "And you start to see a picture emerge that shows the clear 
benefits of eating seafood outweigh the risks of a trace amount of 
mercury in fish."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121103394.html 

-- 
Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD
"Ask the Parkinson Dietitian"  http://www.parkinson.org/
"Eat well, stay well with Parkinson's disease"
"Parkinson's disease: Guidelines for Medical Nutrition Therapy"
http://www.nutritionucanlivewith.com/