A nonprofit group backed by the seafood industry urged pregnant women and nursing mothers to eat more fish than recommended by U.S. officials concerned that mercury contamination can hurt babies.
The group, the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, said women who avoid seafood to limit exposure to mercury deprive their babies and themselves of essential nutrients. Women should eat at least the 12 ounces a week suggested as a maximum by the government, the coalition said today at a briefing in Washington.
Child-development and nutrition specialists produced and promoted the report, with $74,000 from the seafood industry’s advocacy arm, the National Fisheries Institute. That group is a client of Burson-Marsteller, a New York-based public-relations unit of WPP Group Plc in London. A Burson-Marsteller employee serves as vice-chairman of the coalition behind the study. The coalition said it was acting in the public’s interest.
“It’s our job to translate the science for people who need it most,” said Judy Meehan, executive director of the Alexandria, Virginia-based coalition, in a telephone interview today. “This is of critical importance. What happens during those nine months affects that individual’s lifetime.”
Institute vice president Maryanne Hansan declined to disclose fees paid to Burson-Marsteller. At that firm, representative Patricia Pincus declined to comment on the company’s relationships with its clients.
Guidelines Unchanged
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and some coalition members, such as the nonprofit March of Dimes Foundation, which raises money to fight birth defects, said they haven’t changed guidelines for consumption of fish by pregnant women. The March of Dimes Web site refers readers to the FDA Web site.
Liz Lynch, a spokeswoman for the March of Dimes, didn’t respond to a request for comment on the conflict between the coalition’s dietary recommendations and its own.
U.S. health officials have been warning since 2001 that weekly fish intake shouldn’t exceed 12 ounces, or two average servings, to keep toxic mercury from harming fetal and infant brain development.
The coalition’s panel “reviewed recent scientific studies and found a link between ocean fish consumption and advanced cognitive and motor-skill development in children,” said Ashley S. Roman, an assistant professor of obstetrics at New York University Medical Center, in a statement. Some data also suggest that pregnant women who eat ocean fish are less likely to deliver babies prematurely or to suffer depression after birth, she said.
Since 2001, U.S. officials have been recommending that pregnant and nursing women and young children avoid eating any shark, swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish and consume no more than 12 ounces a week of other cooked fish and shellfish.
Canned Tuna
Canned albacore “white” tuna has more mercury content than “light” tuna and should be limited to 6 ounces a week, according to a joint statement from the FDA and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Ninety percent of women are consuming less than the FDA- recommended amount of fish, the coalition said. Overall consumption of seafood in the U.S. rose to an average of 16.5 pounds for each person last year, from 14.8 pounds in 2001, according to the McLean, Virginia-based fisheries institute.
Nutritional supplements aren’t as beneficial as eating fish because they contain many valuable substances, said one of the coalition’s specialists, Mary Harris, a nutrition professor at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.
Source of Omega-3
Seafood is the richest dietary source of essential omega-3 fatty acids, Harris said. Selenium, a mineral found in ocean fish, “appears to protect” against “trace” amounts of mercury, the coalition said.
After the group issued its advisory, the FDA said in an e- mailed statement that it “is carefully reviewing the scientific basis” for the recommendations.
The National Fisheries Institute provided $14,000 in funding to cover travel and lodging costs for panel members to review scientific issues, said Jennifer Wilmes, an institute spokeswoman.
After the coalition reached its conclusions, the institute provided $60,000 to help promote the findings, Wilmes said. The total annual budget for the coalition is less than $500,000, Meehan said.