Limits Urged on Eating Tuna
U.S. Agencies Cite Levels of Mercury
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 20, 2004
For the first time, the federal government has warned pregnant and nursing women and young children away from eating more than a limited amount of canned albacore "white" tuna because of potential hazards from mercury in the fish.
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Coal-fired power plants are the greatest single source of mercury in the environment. Emissions from the plants drift into lakes and streams, where they are transformed by bacteria into methylmercury. Fish aborb the methylmercury, then are eaten by larger and larger fish -- ending with deep-sea fish such as tuna and swordfish.
The Clinton administration proposed rules to limit mercury emissions by 2007. The Bush administration has pushed back the deadline to begin cutting mercury emissions to 2010.
Yesterday's fish advisory was sharply criticized by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit group of environmental investigators. It has challenged the FDA, saying the agency is withholding information regarding mercury in seafood and misusing the scientific data it has.
"The coal and seafood industries' interests today beat out the health interests of America's children in the form of dangerous advice from the FDA on so-called 'safe' consumption levels for fish contaminated with mercury, particularly tuna," senior vice president Richard Wiles said in a release.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9156-2004Mar19.html