FDA’s Change of Mind Over Mercury
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Any woman who has given birth in the past years knows the advice:
We’re told to avoid certain types of seafood in order to avoid mercury contaminants that can be harmful to babies and pregnant mothers. People are also urged to not give the same seafood to small children.
In an alarming turn, the FDA is now trying to change this rule.
From the Washington Post
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 limit at the moment is the “upper limit” of allowed (and what is still considered safe limits) of Mercury in the human body.
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.
Continued:
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.
With all the other debates of Mercury, what do you think about the FDA’s possible new stance?
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