and the second half:
continued from mercola.com......the environmental working group's info
on fish and pollutants:
<<Fish Advisories
FDA
There are three ways that the FDA methylmercury health advisory must
be improved:
1. The list of fish to avoid during pregnancy must be expanded.
By advising against the consumption of just four types of fish, FDA
allows heavy consumption of many fish that have unacceptably high
methylmercury levels. To protect women and their babies from
methylmercury, the FDA must add the following species to the list of
seafood that should not be eaten by pregnant women, nursing women, and
women considering pregnancy:
Tuna steaks, Sea bass, Oysters (Gulf of Mexico), Marlin, Halibut,
Pike, Walleye, White croaker, Largemouth bass
While not every serving of any of these fish is contaminated with
dangerous levels of methylmercury, the odds are greater than one in
1,000 that consumption of a single meal of these fish will expose the
fetus to a potentially hazardous amount of methylmercury for longer
than 30 days.
2. FDA's recommendation that pregnant women eat 12 ounces a week of
any fish (except the four that are not allowed) must be radically
revised.
Ten percent of American women enter pregnancy with elevated
methylmercury levels, and current FDA safeguards, which are based on
average exposures, do almost nothing to protect these high exposure
pregnancies. If these women follow FDA's advice of 12 ounces of any
fish a week, they could easily expose their fetuses to a level of
methylmercury that presents a real risk of adverse neurological
effects. To protect women and children, FDA must restrict consumption
of the following fish to no more than one meal per month, for all
species combined:
Canned tuna, Mahi mahi, Blue mussels, Eastern oyster, Cod, Pollock,
Salmon from the Great Lakes, Blue crab from the Gulf of Mexico,
Channel catfish (wild), Lake whitefish
3. Women who want to eat fish during pregnancy must have information
about which species are least contaminated with methylmercury.
Pregnant women have a right to this information, and FDA has a duty to
provide it. In addition to strengthening restrictions on fish
consumption by pregnant women, FDA should promote the following fish
as safe options for pregnant women:
Trout (farmed)
Catfish (farmed)
Shrimp * (see sidebar)
Fish Sticks
Flounder (summer)
Salmon (wild Pacific)
Croaker
Blue crab (mid Atlantic)
Haddock
Freshwater Sport Fish
It was not possible for EWG to assess the methylmercury risk from
every recreational fish caught in every lake in every state in the
country. A review of the available data, however, shows that several
large predator sport fish are so universally contaminated that FDA
should add them to the list of fish that women should completely avoid
during pregnancy.
After analyzing the results of more than 10,000 samples from 792 lakes
and rivers nationwide, we recommend that FDA add the following species
to their health advisory: walleye, northern pike, and largemouth bass.
While FDA has no authority to regulate methylmercury levels in
freshwater fish, they do have a responsibility to provide critical
health information to the public. It is important that women receive a
consistent message from one source, and the FDA is the appropriate
agency to deliver this message.
Improve monitoring of fish for methylmercury contamination
A major flaw in FDA's system is the agency's own lack of comprehensive
data on methylmercury in fish. In January 2001, FDA recommended that
pregnant women avoid consumption of king mackerel based on
methylmercury levels from a study published in 1979. There are many
other species where the data on methylmercury contamination are
similarly outdated, but where the available information indicates a
potential problem.
FDA must immediately expand its methylmercury sampling program to
include a host of fish where the data indicate that pregnant women and
their babies could receive a potentially unsafe exposure from a
relatively small amount of fish. These include: Sea bass, Atlantic
cod, Grouper, Orange roughy, Bluefish, Pacific cod, Grouper, , Sand
perch, Bonito, Pollock, Red snapper, White perch, Porgy, Yellowtail
Rockfish, Dover sole, Halibut, Lake trout, Flounder -various species
Improve public access to mercury contamination data
Consumers have a right to know about contamination of the food supply,
and FDA must be responsive to this right. Currently they are not. EWG
had great difficulty obtaining relatively simple information about
fish contamination from the agency through the Freedom of Information
Act. FDA currently posts the results of its Total Diet Study on the
web, and there is no reason that all of the agency's mercury
contamination information could not be posted as well.
Improve risk assessments
FDA needs to move beyond its antiquated and biologically implausible
risk assessment methods based on average people and average fish and
adopt state-of-the-art risk assessment techniques that provide a much
more realistic picture of mercury exposure and risk as it is
distributed throughout the population.
It is not sufficient to protect the population from average exposures
when it is clear that many individuals have far greater than average
exposures for extended periods of time.
Reduce Mercury Pollution at its Source
Mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, the largest man-made
source of environmental mercury, are currently completely unregulated.
Federal decision-makers should require power plants to reduce their
mercury pollution by 90% and ultimately move away from polluting
sources of power. (end comments from environmental working group ,
begin mercola's comments)
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
The Environmental Working Group is to be commended for their fine work
in this area and for providing an answer to a more definitive answer
to a common question I receive - "What are "safe" fish to eat?"
It is most unfortunate that the mercury pollution from the coal plants
has so contaminated the waterways and the fish, as they are such a
healthy food. One needs to be aware that all fish are potentially
contaminated with mercury. However I would revise the EWGs list of
safe fish by excluding the shellfish and fish without scales and
including a small safe fish, sardines. So here is my list of safe
fish:
Summer Flounder
Wild Pacific Salmon
Croaker
Sardines
Haddock
Tilapia
Not a very big list. It is important to note that farmed fish are very
similar to commercial beef. The fish are fed grain products and the
beneficial omega 3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) are totally distorted.
Additionally, non-organic grain is used so the fish pick up the
pesticides that were used on the grains and also that run-off from
neighboring farmland.>>
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