Consumer Group Statement on Seafood and Health: 'We Told You So'

In response to new seafood consumption guidelines for pregnant women, issued this morning by the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB), David Martosko, Director of Research at the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom made the following statement:

"It's about time the pendulum on fish and mercury swung back in the direction of common sense. For generations, fish has been 'brain food' to moms and their kids. But about ten years ago, it started receiving the skull-and-crossbones treatment from moneyed environmental groups and government agencies jumping the gun on unresolved science," Martosko said.

"Green groups including Oceana, the Sierra Club, the Environmental Working Group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Mercury Policy Project owe millions of American moms and their babies a sincere apology. And the Environmental Protection Agency should join in that chorus.

"In an age when the Precautionary Principle informs so much (some would argue too much) of our policy making, fear of fish is a great example of hyper-precaution leading us in the wrong direction. Sadly, a public health tragedy still awaits us, but not from the fish on our plates. The real danger will come from unintended consequences of alarm bells, as moms deny their children the vital health benefits of seafood because of unfounded mercury fears," Martosko added.

"For three years, we've been saying that the proven health benefits of eating fish far outweigh the hypothetical risks. Serious science clearly doesn't support the prevailing panic, and we're glad to see mainstream nutrition experts telling moms that the Great Mercury Scare belongs in the dustbin of history."

For more information, visit http://www.mercuryfacts.org/