Health Concerns
The FDA: What the Government Doesn’t Tell You Can Hurt You
The FDA doesn’t prevent even the most heavily contaminated fish from being sold, nor does it require warning labels on the fish that even the administration itself admits that pregnant women shouldn’t eat, making it difficult for consumers to know about the dangers.
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University of Arizona toxicologist Vas Aposhian says the government should put stricter limits on all canned tuna, explaining, “The new recommendations are dangerous to 99 percent of pregnant women and their unborn children.”69 |
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According to a report by the General Accounting Office (GAO), the seafood industry is woefully underregulated. Seafood processors are only inspected by the FDA once every two years, and many aren’t inspected at all, since they aren’t required to register with the FDA. Only 1 to 3 percent of fish imported from other countries is inspected at the border. Many segments of the industry are completely exempt from regulation, including warehouses and most shipboard processors.64
When inspections do occur, they are inadequate, since there is an array of well-known hazards, including (remarkably) mercury contamination, that the FDA does not test fish for.65 According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Food Safety Director Caroline Smith DeWaal, “[The] FDA’s seafood program is riddled with deficiencies, woefully underfunded, and provides no assurance of safety for consumers.”66
Whose Side Are They on?
Even though the dangers of consuming fish are well known, government agencies continue to place the interests of the fish producers above the health of the public. The Environmental Working Group charges that the FDA changed its mind about advisories limiting tuna consumption after being pressured by the seafood industry.67 One leading FDA advisory panel expert resigned in protest after learning that the FDA was going to “disregard” science and not warn consumers about the health risks of eating tuna. A University of Arizona toxicologist, Vas Aposhian, said that the advisory should have put stricter limits on all canned tuna. “The new recommendations are dangerous to 99 percent of pregnant women and their unborn children,” he said. “It seems that one should be more concerned about the health of the future children of this country than the albacore tuna industry.”68
64Center for Science in the Public Interest, news release, “GAO Gives Failing Grade to FDA Seafood HACCP Program,” 13 Feb. 2001.
65Center for Science in the Public Interest, news release, “Consumers Keep Getting Sick From Seafood,” 9 Oct. 2002.
66Center for Science in the Public Interest, “GAO Gives Failing Grade to FDA Seafood HACCP Program.”
67Environmental Working Group, “EWG Study Finds FDA out to Lunch on Protecting Women From Mercury in Fish,” 28 Feb. 2002.
68Michael Greger, M.D., “Mercury Contamination in Fish,” Vegetarian Baby and Child, 11 Nov. 2003.
69Greger.
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