Mercury-contaminated fish pose 'worldwide threat'
The FSA recommends people eat two portions of fish a week
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Thursday, 08, Mar 2007 03:31
Mercury-contaminated fish pose serious health risks to both humans and wildlife, scientists have claimed.
The warning was issued in the Madison declaration on mercury pollution, published today in a special issue of the international science journal Ambio and based on a conference on mercury pollution last August.
Risks posed by contaminated fish, they claim, are so great that they warrant an international general warning to the public. Women of child-bearing age and children, the scientists argue, should particularly be careful of how much and which fish they eat.
The declaration is based on a review of the latest scientific knowledge about the dangers posed by mercury pollution.
Health dangers outlined in the review include a potential increased risk of cardiovascular disease, especially in men.
"The policy implications of these findings are clear," said James Wiener of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, who served as technical chair for last summer's conference.
"The declaration and detailed analyses presented in the five supporting papers clearly show that effective national and international policies are needed to combat this global problem."
In the UK the Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommends that children, pregnant women and women intending to become pregnant should avoid eating shark, swordfish and marlin as relatively high levels of mercury are found in them. Other adults are advised against eating more than one portion each week of these fish.
Its general advice on fish consumption is to eat two portions of fish a week, one of which should be oily, as part of a balanced and varied diet.