The Food and Drug Administration is urging the government to amend its advisory that women and children should limit how much fish they eat, saying that the benefits of seafood outweigh the health risks and that most people should eat more fish -- even if it contains mercury.
If approved by the White House, the FDA's position would reverse the government's current policy that certain groups -- women who are pregnant, nursing or of childbearing age, and infants and children -- can be harmed by the mercury in fish and should limit their consumption.
The FDA's recommendations have alarmed scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, who in internal memos criticized them as "scientifically flawed and inadequate" and said they fell short of the "scientific rigor routinely demonstrated by EPA."
The FDA sent its draft report, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Post, to the White House Office of Management and Budget as part of the FDA's effort to update the existing health advisory.
The report argued that nutrients in fish, including omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and other minerals, could boost a child's IQ by three points.
The greatest benefits, the FDA report said, would come from eating more than 12 ounces of fish a week, which is the current limit advised for women who are pregnant, nursing or of childbearing age, and young children.
FDA spokesman Michael Herndon declined to discuss the draft report. "As a science-based regulatory agency we periodically and routinely review and analyze scientific evidence about health effects of FDA-regulated products," he wrote in an e-mail. "We do not comment on draft reports that are undergoing internal review."
Benjamin H. Grumbles, the EPA's assistant administrator for water, said, "EPA is working closely with other agencies in the scientific review of this report to better understand the risks and benefits of fish consumption."
The FDA and EPA both play a role in protecting the public from mercury contamination. The EPA investigates and regulates mercury and other contaminants in recreationally caught fish, while the FDA regulates mercury in commercial seafood. States rely on the federal agencies in issuing their own advisories.
In 2004, the two agencies issued their first joint advisory, suggesting that women who are pregnant, nursing or of childbearing age, and infants and children stop eating four species of fish considered especially high in mercury: swordfish, shark, tilefish and king mackerel. At the same time, the government advised limiting consumption of other mercury-contaminated fish.
