I’m not likely to give much credence to corporate shills (of course, I don’t KNOW that Sheldon PhD is a shill for a corporation, or, say, for the Bush EPA which is a whole AGENCY of shills under Bush). But tuna are vastly overfished - especially bluefin - and several species may already be endangered. Even Japanese Fisheries Agency director general Toshiro Shirasu, says so, and the Japanese are not currently noted for their environmentalism. Besides, it’s a little hard to imagine how man might have evolved a need for fish and The British Medical Journal says the benefits of omega-3 oil are not firmly established: “ Long chain and shorter chain omega 3 fats do not have a clear effect on total mortality, combined cardiovascular events, or cancer.“ If one wishes to stick with it, just in case, the AHA says that omega-3 oil in plants like walnuts is actually better for us. I WILL give a link to MY website; see “Fish Oil” http://www.vset.net. And my real name is John Mayer. (The handsome one, not the singer.)

Forget it. This is why the consumers, the little people, can't win. I'm not paid to make new accounts with fake names and then post in this little post ad infinitum. That junk food science blog cites the same sources and uses the same arguments as the center for "consumer" "freedom". I'd be surprised if there are more than 2 or three people in this thread.

http://www.mercuryfacts.org

has the same arguments. See who you believe.

As an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard (SPH), I probably should restrain myself. Yet I must say that the NY Times story was irresponsible at best -- criminal at worst.

Risks from eating eafood are outweighed by the health benefits. And science has yet to produce any actual clinical cases of mercury toxicity from U.S.-based fish consumption. So I'm at a loss to understand how thinking people could conclude that ahi tuna, bluefin tuna, or other tuna are somehow risky to eat.

A different viewpoint at JunkFood Science:

http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/01/fishy-sushi-scares.html

Hey Sheldon Ph"D", you're forgetting to login with your other account, "Dr" Marian. What, does the PR company you work for pay you overtime for posting on weekends? Why aren't you linking to

www.mercuryfacts.org?

Do your employers not have the budget to pay you to post links?

More nonsense from the medical STUDENT in the house. Look, kid: Saying there's "no safe level" of mercury is the same thing as saying there's no such thing as safe consumption of fish. EVERY fish has a trace of mercury in it. Without exception. But fish brings so many well-documented health BENEFITS that the risks are negligible in comparison. Period. You're throwing the baby out with the bathwater. You need to remember that it's the DOSE, not the SUBSTANCE, that defines a poison. If you actually become a doctor someday, maybe you'll put that into practice. The fact that you're unaware of this makes me skeptical that you've ever had an intro-level toxicology class. For cryin' out loud, arsenic is a rat poison in large doses, but if you didn't have traces of it in your blood, your brain would die.

Sharon Begley's article makes total sense to me.  I have been vegan for 40 years, realizing long ago that meat and dairy does not do a body good.  Avoiding fish, along with any other animal products, is the healthiest diet plan you can follow.   The CCF doesn't want people to stop eating meat because that is how they make their money, by supporting the meat and dairy industry.   Go vegan for life, and your body will thank you for it.

There's an easy way to estimate your mercury in-take from consuming seafood with a free on-line seafood mercury calculator based on the FDA and EPA standards.

Just go to http://www.GotMercury.com and list the fish you eat and your put in your weight.

--

Todd Steiner

The Center for Consumer Freedom is a nonprofit coalition of restaurants and food companies according to its website. It is axiomatic therefore that it is going to be biased in favour of its members - otherwise the coalition would soon fall apart.

Has anyone seen the Center for Consumer Freedom's spokeshole, David Martosko? Holy sh**!  the guy's only in his 30's, but he looks like he's 70.  He's obese (although his group denies that America has an obesity problem) and looks very tired and unhealthy.  But he lectures the rest of us about the virtues of mercury, trans fats, meat from cloned animals, biotech foods, fast food, and every junk food imaginable.  His group actually runs a website called ObesityMyths.com (I'm not making this up).

Take a look at him on the Today Show and tell me obesity is a myth!  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/22838904#22838904

I, a medical student from Chicago, will hereby show that Sheldon Ph"D", a poorly disguised plant possibly from the CCF itself, misread the first random source he googled on this topic. And did not read his job description handout on how to fake being a medical professional.

From wikipedia, the lowest common denominator of sources:

"[A]n estimate, with uncertainty spanning perhaps an order of magnitude, of a daily oral exposure to the human population (including sensitive subgroups) that is likely to be without an appreciable risk of deleterious effects during a lifetime.[1]"

So Sheldon Ph"D" saw the words "during a lifetime" and decided to lie to thinking people reading this page. If he was reading the sentence using his Ph"D" abilities, he would have noticed that the sentence actually refers to "a daily oral exposure", rather than the sum total dose in one lifetime.

Take THAT. I could have done this in elementary school. It's an insult to have to resort to such trifling googling to expose such an obvious plant.

Also, unless he reads the "Flat Earth Times", actual scientists who study actual science and publish in actual scientific jounals know that there is no safe exposure level for mercury.

You're a "doctor", why don't YOU tell me what "an" aysdf is?

I've got a Ph.D, MBA, JD, BS, BA, TWO MDs, a fighter jet, and a ray gun, and I can see the wisdom of ignoring mercury in fish! Hint: mercury is unsafe at ANY level, mistar "toxicologist". Jesus. Where were you when they passed out xeroxes on how to fake being a medical professional?

Oh look! We have a medical STUDENT in the house. Eventually, maybe you'll have a toxicology class, or some introductory biochemistry. Until then, please leave this to the professionals. If you want to troll on behalf of Greenpeace or some other counter-culture malcontents, the least you should do is use your real name. What the heck is an "aysdf"?

Oh look! We've got two fake doctors in the house! "Dr" Marian and Sheldon Ph "D"! That's so cute! I wonder how much the CCF pays them?

As a medical student, I take offense at you two's lack of expertise in LYING. Frankly, you two should go back to trolling websites where readers can't engage upper brain functions.

That's just silly. You don't know anyone who agrees with them? That's like some New Yorkers I know who couldn't believe Ronald Reagan got elected, because they didn't personally know anyone at all who had voted for him. Wake up and allow for the possibility that your narrow world-view just might be, well, NARROW. It's just possible that this random kooky group struck scientific gold, isn't it? I mean, I have a Ph.D. and an M.D., and I can actually see the wisdom in what they're saying.

Great article.  I love that Ms. Begley not only calls the Center for Consumer Freedom on their misinformation regarding mercury levels in fish, but the various other "projects" they dream up to secure the meat, dairy, tobacco and alcohol industries in the public's favor.   The CCF is merely a front for the freedom of all the major industries that are detrimental to our existence, if you ask me, and it's a wonder they are even taken seriously by the general public.  Although, I don't know anyone who agrees with them.

Thank you, Sharon Begley, for exposing this crack-pot group which has no business calling itself a non-profit. The CCF thinks they're clever with their insulting comments and "attack the messenger" style, but nothing can hide the greed that underlies everything they do. How else would you explain advocating ingesting mercury or driving drunk? It's beyond ridiculous and frankly, Newsweek should not have posted the CCF's idiotic response.

Thanks again, Sharon!

I'm wondering if the Center for Consumer Freedom ran over the author's dog. It seems that would be the only explanation for the vitriol.

But on the question of the science, it seems that TIME magazine agrees with the Center. From their 1/24/08 article titled, The Danger of Not Eating Tuna, they say: "The EPA's limit is the acceptable limit of safety, which includes a 10-fold safety factor. That's not a risk level. That's the accepted safety level [0.1 mcg of mercury per kg of body weight per day]. That's 10 times lower than where the EPA determined that risk was occurring — which is a prudent safety limit to be certain that there is no risk. So, for example, if six pieces of tuna sushi a week would put you at the limit, that means you would have to eat 60 pieces to get to the level where the EPA determined risk is occurring."

As a physicians and a toxicologist, I have to take issue with this. Whatever distaste you have for this group, you shouldn't invent scientific detail to support your acerbic attempt at policing the nonprofit world.

Frankly, the Center for Consumer Freedom is right. And you are wrong.

The FDA's Action Level for fish does have a ten-fold safety cushion incorporated in it. Whatever the history of its implementation, it's a fact that the lowest levels of mercury associated with adverse effects in published scientific studies measured TEN TIMES the "Action Level."

They also got the EPA's Reference Dose right. You got it wrong. It's a measured ESTIMATE of lifetime exposure. It's not a bright-line harm threshold.

Is this how far Newsweek has fallen? Are you really publishing this scientifically bankrupt dreck on your website?

If I were you, I'd hope and pray that the Food and Drug Administration doesn't find its courage and publicly rebut everything you've said here. Lord knows they should. You're scaring people away from eating FISH, for crying out loud. It's "brain food," remember?

Thank you for calling out the deceptively named Center for Consumer Freedom! I only wish every journalist would check out the CCF before they blindly publish their lies.

I just had some Aslakan salmon you know the ones with the lower Mercury content. Omega-OH-yeah. On the topic of the Sushi... try it on a china lead plated plate mate.

fish on

D SPAWN

Yellowfin and Ahi tuna are the same fish. Ahi is another name for Yellowfin, usually called Ahi on the West coast and in pacific countries.