Admonitions against eating food with mercury

Emerging Scandal in Vaccine Mandates

In another announcement the same day, PHS-AAP issued a joint statement that revealed the risk to children of vaccines containing mercury and called on the FDA to "assess the risk of all mercury-containing food and drugs." A mercury product called thimerosal is used as a preservative in many vaccines, even though the FDA last year banned its use in over-the-counter products for safety reasons.

Under the current CDC schedule, most infants receive a total of 15 doses of mercury-containing vaccines by the time they are six months old, many given simultaneously. The fact that the FDA has prohibited the use of thimerosal for most products, but continues to allow its use for vaccines, sounds like political corruption in the vaccine approval process.

FDA issues pregnancy warning: Mercury in some fish could harm fetal brains, agency says

Pregnant women and those who might become pregnant should not eat four types of fish — shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish — because they could contain enough mercury to damage a fetal brain, the government warned Friday.

Nursing mothers and young children should avoid those fish as well, the Food and Drug Administration said.

But what level of mercury the FDA deems safe is under attack. A major scientific report last summer said the agency should follow Environmental Protection Agency safety standards that are four times stricter — a standard that critics contend do make tuna a concern. The FDA is considering whether to change its standard.

San Francisco Bay seafood warning

"Mercury in breaking thermometers is the largest single household source of mercury pollution in the municipal solid waste," said Supervisor Mark Leno, who introduced the bill. The rivers that lead to the San Francisco Bay already supply more than 450,000 grams every year of poisonous mercury, enough to trigger a health warning against eating more than two Bay fish meals a month.

Report: Fish-mercury risk underestimated

A report issued Thursday says millions of pregnant women and their fetuses are at risk of serious health problems from exposure to mercury in fish.

The report, prepared by the Environmental Working Group and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, calls on the Food and Drug Administration to upgrade and strengthen its current mercury safeguards.

The FDA in January recommended that shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish not be eaten by pregnant women and women of childbearing age who might become pregnant. It also recommended that nursing mothers and young children steer clear of these fish.

But the new report, "Brain Food: What Women Should Know About Mercury Contamination in Fish," contends the recommendations do not go far enough to protect women and children from mercury contamination.

FDA Warning: Harmful Mercury Levels in Some Ocean Fish a Danger to Babies: Advises Certain Women, Young Children to Steer Clear of Risky Fish

Pregnant women should avoid eating certain species of large ocean fish, the FDA announced today, because of a danger of contamination by methyl mercury, a substance that can harm the nervous system in a developing baby. The government warning applies to young children, nursing mothers, and women who might become pregnant, officials say.

The fish to be avoided are shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish. These fish live relatively long lives and eat lots of smaller fish that have been contaminated from both natural sources and by industrial pollution, says the FDA. That allows the mercury to reach high concentrations in the bigger fish, a process called "biomagnification."

"If officials are finding methyl mercury in these types of fish, pregnant women should not be eating them," says Jennifer Niebyl, MD, professor and head of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Iowa.

"There are good data showing that high levels can be a problem," she tells WebMD, and recounts a famous 1959 epidemic of methyl mercury poisoning in Minamata, Japan. It caused neurological diseases, seizures, and other serious health problems.

The FDA does not recommend avoiding all fish, as there are many nutritional benefits of fish consumption.

Balancing Risks and Benefits: Primum non nocere Is Too Simplistic

Based on the NRC report, on January 12, 2001, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that pregnant women, women of childbearing age, infants, and very young children not consume swordfish, shark,
tilefish, and mackerel because of unacceptably high levels of methylmercury.10 Swordfish contains an average of 1 part per million of methylmercury, or 28 µg/oz. If a meal is 3 oz, a 55- to 70-kg woman should not consume 84 µg of methylmercury at any point during pregnancy.