mercury in seafood

[kudra]

Does that means pregnant ladies should eat less seafood?

Well eat in moderation. Anyway researchers have just shown that omega-3 fatty acids are essential for brain development,

The EPA guidelines are fairly clear and were essentially reprinted in

the story in cited above from the Honolulu Advertiser

The USDA said certain fish — notably shark, swordfish, king mackerel and albacore tuna — contain higher levels of mercury and should be avoided by small children and women who are pregnant, likely to become pregnant or breast feeding. Shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock and catfish are safer, the agency said.

Safer....

This seems to be the official document from the US Food and Drug Administration

on this topic.

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/admehg3.html

Here is a quote from a paper "Pediatric Environmental Health

Appendix B: Important Issues Regarding Mercury" at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HEC/CSEM/pediatric/appendixb.html

which appears to be a reference for health care workers. Also addresses the Japanese lifespan remark. Admittedly the mercury contamination in Minimata Bay was evidently from a local source rather than global contamination. (discussed below in the PBS show)

... In the 1950s, when pregnant women in Minimata Bay, Japan, ingested fish with high levels of methylmercury, the result was at least 30 cases of infantile cerebral palsy (Klaassen 1996). As listed in the Handbook of Pediatric Environmental Health (Etzel and Balk 1999), to reduce hazards from fish consumption, individuals can be counseled to eat nonpredator fish rather than predator fish (e.g., shark, swordfish, and tuna); to eat small rather than large game fish; and to eat fewer fatty fish (e.g., carp, catfish, and lake trout), which accumulate higher levels of chemical toxicants. Emphasize to women of childbearing age, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and parents of young children the need to follow fish advisory guidelines. Fish advisories can be obtained from state health, environmental, and conservation departments (ATSDR 1999, 1992; EPA and ATSDR 2001).

And then of course you have stories like this

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55268-2005Mar21.html

about the EPA's (in?)ability to communicate the science to the public.

Personally I'd look at this report done by the PBS

http://www.pbs.org/now/science/mercuryinfish.html

It looks at the the EPA recommendations with a skeptical eye, specifically looking for influence from the fishing industry.

A lot of these points were made by previous posters. I just wanted to include some of the source urls.

I'm not an expert. Just typed cdc, epa, tuna, mercury, pregnant in various combinations into google.

[Ferno]

Well I just heard an Earthshare.org commercial on the radio - started off with something like "Do you remember what you had for breakfast this morning? Do you know what you have to do later today? Do you remember the first question?".... went on about how mercury is in fish and our diet and how it affects the brain. Looks like some American groups are taking this very seriously..

[Ian_Lee]

So after all these Mercury scare, are you going to quit eating sashimi?

Well, nothing beats a piece of chuutoro from a Bluefin tuna with a sip of top brand Sake!