In response to concerns about mercury exposure risks from canned tuna and other fish, the Food and Drug Administration is hosting a series of mercury stakeholder meetings this week. FDA met with representatives of the fishing industry yesterday, will meet with nonprofit groups today and is expected to meet with state officials tomorrow on developing a joint methyl mercury fish consumption advisory for women and children with the Environmental Protection Agency.
"By FDA's own admission, 30-50 percent of American women remain unaware of risks from methyl mercury in fish," said Michael Bender, director of the Mercury Policy Project. "Yet FDA has not acted to address the public health concern associated with methyl mercury in name brand canned tuna, despite the fact that FDA's own food safety committee recommended that they do so over one year ago."
In July 2002, FDA's Food Safety Committee recommended a series of steps necessary to protect the public. They included the following: 1) harmonizing FDA's action level with EPA's more scientifically-based reference dose (RfD); 2) determining what the exposure risks are for sensitive populations, particularly for young children; 3) conducting mercury testing for canned tuna and other fish; and 4) warning specific sensitive populations to limit consumption of canned tuna.
"Brand name canned tuna is the most frequently consumed fish among women of childbearing age, while children eat more than twice as much as any other fish," said Jane Williams, director of CA Communities Against Toxics. "This high consumption leads to unsafe mercury exposures based on EPA's RfD. FDA is failing to achieve its core mission, which is to ensure the safety of the food supply and protect public health."
In the absence of action by FDA, state agencies have begun filling the void by issuing mercury advisories for canned tuna that are more protective than FDA's advisory. Twelve states-Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Washington, Wisconsin, and most recently California and now Hawaii-warn pregnant women and children to limit canned tuna consumption.
Some of these states also advise sensitive populations to eat less white canned tuna than the light, a decision based on a 1992 FDA study which found mercury levels higher in the "white" albacore tuna. Most recently, Hawaii received approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to offer canned salmon as a substitute in place of canned tuna in its Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, a low income nutritional aid project of the federal government.
Recent independent testing of name brand canned tuna commissioned by the Mercury Policy Project found that levels of mercury in albacore "white" tuna were four times higher that the "light" tuna, and that six percent of samples exceeded the FDA's action level of 1 part per million methyl mercury. Yet unlike the major brand names who predominantly purchase larger albacore (average 40-60 pounds) from the high seas long-line Asian fleet, coastal albacore caught on the West Coast is said to have lower mercury levels since coastal troll-caught albacore is on average smaller (12-17 lbs.)
Levels of mercury have increased three-to-five fold over the past century due to human activities. Mercury is released to the atmosphere by air pollution from power plants, waste disposal and mercury cell chlor alkali plants.