Report Casts Tuna In Unhealthy Light

Tuna sandwiches and casseroles dominate dinner tables around the country -- but some organizations say the most popular fish in the United States may not be as safe as many people think.

An expert committee of the World Health Organization recommended last week that the allowable consumption of methylmercury -- the organic form in which mercury exists in fish -- be cut in half. That would make the recommendation twice as stringent as that issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Researchers with the Mercury Policy Project in Montpelier, Vt., applauded the move and urged the FDA to take similar action. The Natural Resources Defense Council is also concerned about the allowable amount of mercury in the United States.

"We commend (the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives) for their deliberation and conclusions on the threats posed by methylmercury contamination. This is a move in the right direction," said Linda Greer, director of the NRDC's Public Health Program. "In response, FDA now urgently needs to update U.S. safety levels consistent with the recommendation of the WHO. Consumers, particularly pregnant women, should limit their consumption of fish such as swordfish and tuna fish."

Methylmercury poses risks to developing fetuses, infants, and young children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 12 women of childbearing age have unsafe mercury levels.

The Food and Drug Administration currently recommends that healthy adults eat no more than one serving per week of fish with a level of 1 part per million (ppm) of mercury.

While larger fish, such as sharks and swordfish, generally contain the most mercury of any fish, smaller fish such as tuna have been thought to be safe.

However, the Mercury Policy Project recently released a study that found one out of every 20 cans of white, or albacore, tuna has mercury levels higher than what has been deemed safe by governmental standards.

Canned tuna is eaten in 90 percent of American households, according to the group, and children eat twice as much tuna as other fish. Albacore accounts for about one-third of all canned tuna sold in the United States, the group reported.

In the study, researchers chose collected 60 cans of Starkist, Bumblebee, Chicken of the Sea tuna and others from Safeway, Shaw's and other supermarkets around the country. They were tested by New Age/Landmark Laboratory Inc. in Benton Harbor, Mich., and 20 percent of the sample was retested by The National Food Laboratory Inc. in Dublin, Calif.

More than 6 percent of the white tuna samples contained mercury at or above 1 ppm. On average, the 48 white tuna samples had levels of mercury more than four times higher than the 12 light tuna cans tested.

Mercury Policy Project Director Michael Bender accused the FDA of concealing information about mercury levels in white tuna and failing to warn consumers because of pressure from the tuna industry.

Bender admitted that the project's sample size of albacore tuna was very small. But he said there's no reason to believe that these results don't reflect what millions of Americans consume.

The U.S. Tuna Foundation maintains that canned tuna contains only trace amounts of methylmercury that are well below all established safety levels.