I know Mercury in fish has been a problem for years in North Carolina, but does anyone know whether it is a problem here in Iowa? Bye the bye I was once given a newspaper article by an internist (M.D.) which said that you would have to drink the water a fish swims in for 150 years to get the amount of toxins you get from eating the fish. Peggy Murdock At 03:33 PM 2/14/01 , you wrote: >Below is something you might want for a case study. Also, thanks for the >drop approval. > >I just left the department. Couldn't find anybody. Must be a big meeting >going on somewhere. Have they selected Erv's replacement yet? > >By the way, there is apparently a U of MD position for an aquatic >toxicologist at the Solomons Island research facility. What a great place >to work and retire! Wish I had the credentials and experience. > > Linda > > > >At 01:18 PM 2/14/2001 -0600, you wrote: >>Posted by Debbie Neustadt >> >>MERCURY: GAO report urges FDA to act on threat in fish >> >>Colleen Luccioli, Greenwire staff writer >> >>A U.S. General Accounting Office report released today makes an explicit >> >>recommendation that the Food and Drug Administration "develop milestones >> >>for completing the agency's ongoing evaluation of methylmercury and >>determine whether it is a seafood hazard reasonably likely to occur." >> >>Not only should the study be wrapped up, but FDA should also monitor >>mercury levels when checking seafood safety, GAO contends. >> >>"The GAO report confirms that FDA is asleep at the wheel when it comes >>to >>protecting the public from mercury in seafood," said Michael Bender, >>executive director of the Mercury Policy Project. "FDA's got to stop >>ignoring the mercury problem and start addressing the findings in the >>recent National Academy of Sciences report." >> >>According to Bender, FDA has been studying the hazards of mercury in >>fish >>for over 10 years, but the agency has never completed its study. >> >>The study was requested in December 1999 by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), >>the >>ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry >>Committee. In soliciting the report, which addresses seafood safety >>issues, >>Harkin noted that he had concerns with implementation of the Hazard >>Analysis Critical Control Point systems, under which FDA monitors food >>for >>quality control purposes. >> >>GAO states in its report that implementation of HACCP plans is shoddy. >>GAO >>continues, "Even if the plans were complete, according to FDA >>requirements, >>they would still omit a serious hazard because methylmercury, a highly >>toxic substance, is not identified or covered in FDA's seafood guide as >>a >>hazard reasonably likely to occur." >> >>In further encouraging prompt action on the FDA study, the report >>claims, >>"Without prompt completion of its ongoing evaluation of methylmercury, >>FDA >>is unable to give direction to the industry on whether it should >>establish >>HACCP controls for this hazard, thus potentially placing consumers at >>risk >>of exposure to unsafe levels of methylmercury." >> >>FDA says one of its priorities for fiscal year '01 is to review its >>public >>health strategy for mercury in commercial seafood and take steps >>necessary >>to address public health concerns related to mercury. >> >>The GAO report also notes the health hazards associated with eating >>seafood >>contaminated with mercury. "Contaminated fish is the major source of >>human >>exposure to methylmercury in the United States and can cause, among >>other >>things, serious neurological problems, such as mental retardation in >>young >>children." NAS issued a report last summer saying that more than 60,000 >>children born each year may suffer learning disabilities due to mercury >>exposure in-utero because their mothers ate food contaminated with >>mercury. >> >>GAO then takes issue with FDA's stance on the issue. "FDA's guidance to >>industry does not discuss the identification and control of >>methylmercury >>even though FDA's tests for methylmercury in shark and swordfish found >>that >>9 of 18 samples analyzed in 1998 and 1999 met or exceeded FDA's >>1.0-part-per-million action level." GAO also notes, "Even when FDA >>identifies serious violations at a seafood-processing firm, it does not >>take timely regulatory action to ensure compliance." >> >>Linda Candler, vice president of communications for the National >>Fisheries >>Institute, countered, "FDA and the industry have known about mercury >>levels >>in fish for a while, but there's never been a single case of mercury >>poisoning in the United States as a result of eating fish. A change in >>regulation and oversight would leave one to believe that a single meal >>of >>seafood would cause harm, yet there's no indication that that is true." >> >>Last month, FDA issued a consumer advisory for swordfish and shark but >>not >>for tuna, the most commonly consumed fish of the three types believed to >> >>carry the most mercury. The consumer advisory, which was heavily >>criticized >>by environmental and public health groups for not including tuna, was >>directed to women of childbearing age and young children. >> >>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >> >>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >>For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT >>to [log in to unmask] > >- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT >to [log in to unmask] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT to [log in to unmask]