Reaction Of Sen. Patrick Leahy
To The Administration’s Draft Health Advisory on Mercury in Seafood

December 11, 2003

[(THURSDAY, Dec.11) The Bush Administration released a new draft health advisory for mercury in fish and seafood that continue with its current recommendations and ignoring new FDA data showing higher than expected mercury levels in some fish and seafood. Last week, the Bush Administration announced that it would  reverse an earlier EPA/Clinton Administration December 2000 decision to regulate mercury emissions on a plant-by-plant basis and instead set a national and delayed standard that allows utilities to trade the right to emit mercury into the air. Sen. Patrick Leahy(D-Vt) has been pushing FDA to revise their mercury standard to adequately protect women and children from mercury exposure from fish and seafood for years. He successfully included language in the Fiscal Year 2004 spending bill for FDA that states that the agency should follow the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences and FDA’s own Food Advisory Committee. Last summer, the Food Advisory Committee recommended that the new advisory include specific advice on limiting consumption of tuna.  On Thursday Leahy released the following statement about the Administration’s draft mercury advisory:]

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“The Bush Administration new draft advisory is merely a restatement of current recommendations.  The Administration’s own data clearly shows that they know that there is a danger of mercury exposure from tuna, but they are choosing not to act on it. Issuing an advisory that keeps status quo and doesn’t raise new alarm bells about mercury dangers is letting down women and children who will continue to be unaware of the dangers that tuna unfortunately poses to their health.

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