EE.UU. - U.S. FDA Advisory On Mercury Expected Early January 2004

jueves 11 de diciembre de 2003

United States, December 11, 03

The U.S federal government plans to warn pregnant women, nursing mothers and even those thinking of getting pregnant to limit their consumption of tuna as part of a broad advisory concerning the dangers of eating fish and shellfish with elevated levels of harmful mercury.

A draft advisory from the American Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency cautions women of childbearing age as well as young children to limit their intake of tuna and other fish and shellfish to 12 ounces a week, the equivalent of two to three modest meals. Among seafood, tuna ranks second only to shrimp in popularity in the United States.

The government is also advising consumers to mix the types of fish they eat and not to eat any one kind of fish or shellfish more than once a week. The FDA had previously warned pregnant women against eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish because they contain unusually high levels of mercury, but until now the agency has not directly addressed concerns about tuna or issued warnings for so large a segment of the population.

The advisory notes that mercury levels in tuna vary, and that tuna steaks and canned albacore tuna generally contain higher levels of mercury than canned light tuna. The document advises pregnant and nursing women: "You can safely include tuna as part of your weekly fish consumption."

But David Acheson, the FDA's medical officer in charge of the issue, said in an interview that it is implicit in the draft document that women at risk should eat no more than four to six ounces of tuna once a week.

David Burney, executive director of the San Diego-based U.S. Tuna Foundation, said that the industry agrees there is a need to expand the government advisory to include tuna, but that manufacturers fear that environmental and consumer groups will exploit fears to unnecessarily harm the industry. "Every time there's a hearing or a meeting, you get all these incredible accusations flying everywhere, where you have people saying they know people who ate fish who glow in the dark," Burney said. "That's the kind of thing you don't like to see, and you wonder whether people are taking this to heart."

StarKist, Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea, the three principal U.S. tuna manufacturers, sold about 2.3 billion six-ounce cans of tuna last year. But retail sales have dropped by about 10 percent in the United States in the past decade, to about $1.1 billion a year, in part because of public concern about the effects of mercury, according to industry figures and media reports. Last year, shrimp for the first time overtook tuna in overall sales.

Women between 18 and 54 typically make 85 percent of tuna purchases at supermarkets, according to industry figures. More than 80 percent of all tuna sold is used at lunch in various salads.

The proposed new guidelines began circulating yesterday at a meeting in Washington of the U.S. FDA's Food Advisory Committee and likely will be formally promulgated early next year, according to FDA officials. The advisory is the government's response to mounting public concern about the dangers of mercury pollution in tuna and other popular fish and shellfish.