Senators Want Public to Know About Risk of Mercury in Seafood

January 11, 2001

WASHINGTON (Jan. 11) -- Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. Tom Harkin are urging the Food and Drug Administration to accurately advise consumers about the health risks associated with eating methylmercury-contaminated seafood.

The FDA has yet to update its consumer advisory about methylmercury contamination in certain fish – including swordfish, tuna and shark -- despite a conclusive report by the prestigious National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released last summer detailing the dangers of methylmercury-contaminated seafood to pregnant women and small children. Methylmercury is a potent neurotoxin that can cause serious neurological damage in humans.

Following the NAS report, Leahy and Harkin contacted Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, expressing their concern that some federal agencies, including FDA, were failing to adequately inform at-risk populations about methylmercury. In addition, they urged the FDA to adopt the stricter methylmercury protection standards of the Environmental Protection Agency -- standards that had been fully upheld by the NAS report and which are three to five times more stringent than those of any other federal agency. Nearly six months later, the FDA has failed to revise its consumer advisory or its methylmercury protection standards. The senators, in a letter sent today to Shalala, are urging the FDA to act more quickly to protect the public’s health.

"The preponderance of scientific evidence clearly shows that pregnant women and children are at risk and they should limit their intake of certain types of fish," said Leahy. "The FDA has a responsibility to issue a health advisory about these possible dangers as soon as possible to allow consumers to make informed choices about the foods they eat. The public has a right to know."

"With report after report indicating pregnant women and children may be at risk from the consumption of mercury-contaminated fish, it is clear that action is essential," said Harkin. "FDA should revise its consumer warnings as soon as possible and decide whether the limits on mercury in seafood need to be strengthened. FDA has a critical responsibility to move forward and address the findings of these studies."

More than 60,000 newborns could be at risk from methylmercury exposure each year, according to the NAS report. NAS determined that the EPA’s exposure standard is justified given the possible dangers of methylmercury exposure.

Leahy and Harkin have led Congress in fighting for improved standards to protect public health. The senators are jointly developing legislation which will require FDA to adopt the EPA’s stricter methylmercury protection standard, to increase its consumer education efforts and to perform scientifically valid testing of mercury levels in fish.

The two senators also opposed last-minute language added to a final budget bill in the final days of the last congressional session which stipulated that the FDA must rely on more than one relevant study before revising its consumer advisory. Leahy and Harkin, in their letter to Shalala, asserted that the NAS report did, in fact, present evidence from numerous studies.

Fish can be an important part of healthy diet. However, some larger species of fish can contain dangerous levels of methylmercury. Mercury is a toxic metal, released into the atmosphere through industrial emissions -- particularly the emissions of coal-fired power plants in the U.S. Mercury is deposited in lakes and streams and converted to methylmercury before accumulating in fish tissue.

Leahy, joined by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), has introduced legislation to reduce mercury emissions from all sources, including power plants and municipal waste incinerators. Leahy has also authored a bill specifically targeting the aging Midwestern coal-fired power plants, which are the leading source of mercury pollution that eventually makes its way to the Northeast. In December, the EPA announced that it would begin a rule-making process to regulate mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants -- a decision that Leahy and others have hailed as a major turning point in the fight to reduce all forms of mercury in the environment.

Harkin has called for closer scrutiny of FDA food safety programs, including a General Accounting Office review expected to be released soon.

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NOTE: Leahy will appear on the ABC news program 20/20, as part of a segment on mercury pollution. The program is scheduled to air on Friday, January 12 at 10:00 p.m. EST.

(Jan. 11 Letter to HHS Secretary Shalala)