Warnings on Canned Tuna Urged
New signs in California grocery stores and restaurants warn consumers, especially pregnant women and children, about the dangers of eating fish that contains mercury. But a battle is being waged over whether the warnings go far enough to protect the public.
Toxicologists agree that women of childbearing age and children should avoid swordfish, shark, king mackerel and tilefish and instead eat salmon, shrimp, sardines, catfish, scallops and other seafood with little or no detectable mercury.
But it is canned tuna -- by far the most popular seafood among American adults and children -- that has fueled a political and legal debate over mercury advisories in California stores and restaurants.
Many stores posted notices next to fresh and frozen fish in February, shortly after California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer sued seven grocery chains.
Lockyer alleges that the stores violated Proposition 65, a state law that requires businesses to post "clear and reasonable" warnings when exposing people to chemicals that cause cancer or reproductive harm.
The signs -- based on an advisory from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and considered an interim measure at stores until the lawsuits are settled -- tell pregnant and nursing mothers, women who may become pregnant and young children to eat no swordfish, shark, king mackerel and tilefish.
They also are advised to "limit their consumption of other fish, including fresh or frozen tuna" and to eat no more than 12 ounces of various fish per week.
The signs give no specific advice about canned tuna, saying only, in smaller type, that "mercury levels in canned tuna vary, but on average are lower than levels in many other fish." No signs are posted in aisles where canned fish is sold.
Minus the mercury, fish, which contains omega-3 fatty acids, is a highly nutritious food that keeps hearts healthy.
The blood of one in 12 Americans exceeds the Environmental Protection Agency's "safe" level for mercury, according to data released in January by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And among Californians, particularly upper-income residents, recent testing has found that high mercury levels are even more common.
Mercury is naturally found in the environment, but much of it also comes from coal-fired power plants and municipal waste-burning facilities. It settles in oceans and rivers and accumulates in predatory fish such as swordfish and shark that are large and long-lived.
