FDA draft plans ignore warnings on tuna mercury levels

By Lauran Neergaard
The Associated Press

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Drafts of new consumer advice being planned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drew an outcry from consumer advocates yesterday. They pointed to new testing by FDA showing more expensive white, or albacore, canned tuna contains almost three times as much mercury as cheaper "light" canned tuna and asked why the new advice won't tell pregnant women to limit the albacore.

"They've completely failed in their obligation to protect the public," said Richard Wiles, of the Environmental Working Group, which plans a legal challenge if the advisory isn't changed.

Fish, including tuna, is nutritious. Many species contain certain fats called omega-3s that are good for the heart and important for fetal brain development. The American Heart Association recommends eating fish twice a week.

But fish also can harbor mercury, a metal that accumulates in the bodies of fish-eaters and can damage the growing brains of fetuses and young children. About 8 percent of U.S. women of childbearing age have enough mercury in their blood to put a fetus at risk.

Some fish varieties harbor more mercury than others. The FDA has told women who may become pregnant to avoid shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish.

But the FDA in 2001 said a few servings a week — totaling 12 ounces — of any other fish is healthy during pregnancy. That sparked criticism from consumer advocates, who argue that tuna, with moderately high mercury levels, is eaten so often by pregnant women and young children that it needed warnings, too.

In 2002, FDA advisers recommended saying two 6-ounce cans of tuna a week is fine if that's the only fish pregnant women eat, or a single can if they eat other fish.

The FDA reconsidered, and drafts of its latest plan — to be presented to advisers this week — show the agency didn't heed that recommendation.

The drafts instead say that mercury levels in tuna vary and that tuna steaks and canned albacore "generally contain higher levels of mercury than canned light tuna."

The new advice also stresses to eat a variety of fish, not the same type more than once a week, said Dr. David Acheson, FDA's medical officer in charge of the issue. But it doesn't single out limits for tuna. "We're going to stand by our advisory," Acheson said.

But recent FDA testing shows that canned albacore contains almost three times the mercury as canned light tuna, and critics say that means a single 6-ounce can of albacore a week could put many women, depending on their size, over the safe mercury limit.

Eleven states tell pregnant women to limit consumption of canned tuna, and Rhode Island last summer told them to avoid albacore, said Michael Bender, of the Mercury Policy Project.

Even though albacore has more mercury than light tuna, it contains levels well below FDA's safe limits, said Dave Burney, of the U.S. Tuna Foundation. "Albacore tuna happens to have more omega-3 in it than any other fish," he said. "Any advice for women to not eat fish is the wrong message to send."

FDA's draft advice does warn that fish caught from local lakes and rivers often contain more mercury than commercial fish, so heed local warnings on which freshwater fish to avoid. If there is no advice for your area, eat no more than 6 ounces of locally caught fish a week, it says.

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