Dear Norma,

The most recent article which I read on it was in Consumer Reports. June
2001. They rate different tunas but they also  talk about mercury on page
17. The amounts which one is supposed to eat vary by weight and also by
whether or not you believe the EPA guidelines or think that their allowable
numbers are too high. Interestingly, the EPA's recommendations are 1/4 those
of the FDA. (Are we suprised?) To quote from CR based on the EPA
recommendations:

"A 132 pound woman could consume up to  9 oz of light tuna or 5 oz of white
tuna a week (assuming no other mercury-bearing fish is eaten.) That's about
2 cans of light tuna or 1 can of white a week, given that a 6-ounce can
usually has about 4.5-5 oz of tuna meat after the liquid is drained.
    A 44 pound child could eat only 3 oz of light tuna or 1.5 oz of white a
week; in other words, one tuna sandwich weekly."

In their tests, white tuna averaged 0.31ppm of methylmercury and light tuna
averaged 0.16ppm.

Other fish which tend to exceed this level are fatty fish such as shark,
swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish. For people (like me) in the great lakes
region, almost all fatty fish from the great lakes including steelhead and
salmon are highly contaminated with mercury and PCB's and are really off
limits for pregnant and lactating women and for children. There are guides
for people who consume great lakes fish. I am often rather bothered by the
number of my patients who do not pay any attention to them.

I hope that this helps.

Kate

Kate McIntosh MD FAAP

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