Chicago Tribune Investigation Exposes the Dangers of Fish Consumption

The Chicago Tribune's investigative series "The Mercury Menace" adds evidence to the overwhelming body of scientific studies that reveal the toxic effects of eating fish.

The fact is that all the toxins in our waterways—including mercury, lead, PCBs, and even flame-retardant chemicals—become concentrated in the flesh of fish, and humans who eat these fish can suffer from health problems ranging from memory loss and poor coordination to infertility and organ damage.

Some key quotes from the Tribune series include the following:

• "Year after year, the federal government has failed to fully disclose the hazards of mercury in fish to the public. In some cases, regulators have ignored the advice of their own scientists who concluded that mercury was far more dangerous than what consumers were being told. In other instances, regulators have made decisions that benefited the fishing industry at the expense of public health."
• "The U.S. government's only guide for consumers—a mercury warning posted on federal Web sites but not required in stores—is so flawed and misleading that people following the advice still could expose themselves to too much of the toxic metal. The Food and Drug Administration, the agency responsible for the safety of commercial seafood, does not dispute recent studies showing that consumers might be harmed by relatively low levels of mercury. But the government's permissible mercury limit in fish has remained the same for 25 years."
• "Almost all the mercury that people are exposed to comes from eating fish. And almost all fish contain some amounts of the metal .... [E]missions from a factory in China can pollute a lake in America and vice versa. ... In water, bacteria chemically alter mercury, creating a highly toxic form called methylmercury ...."
• "Mercury can damage the central nervous system of children, causing subtle delays in walking and talking as well as decreased attention span and memory. Adults can experience headaches, fatigue, numbness in the hands and feet, and a lack of concentration. Some studies suggest that men also face an increased risk of heart attacks."
• "[A] 161-pound woman—the average weight of a U.S. female of childbearing age—would exceed the EPA's exposure limit just by eating the can of tuna. [Dr. Vas] Aposhian was so upset that the government was not tougher on canned tuna that he quit the FDA advisory panel. 'Nobody asked what this is doing to children,' he recalled. 'Nobody seemed really concerned about what this would do to pregnant women.'"

The series also told the story of a 5-year-old girl named Sophie, who ate just one can of tuna a week and thus "had trouble sounding out words she had already learned. She forgot how to tie her shoes. ... When Sophie quit eating tuna, she started learning again, her mother said. 'She seemed to us like she was a different kid.'"

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