Consumer Group: FDA Report That Would Roll Back Seafood Advisory is a Huge Public-Health Victory

Poor children have been hit hardest by over-reaching fish warnings.

Washington, DC (Vocus) December 12, 2008 -- In today's Washington Post, reporter Lindsay Layton writes that the Food and Drug Administration "is urging the government to amend its advisory that women and children should limit how much fish they eat, saying that the benefits of seafood outweigh the health risks." This is excellent and long overdue news for health-conscious consumers.

David Martosko, Director of Research at the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom, is available to speak to reporters about the health harm that the government's current seafood advisory has been responsible for, especially among children in America's poorest families. Mr. Martosko can offer unique insight into how the current seafood advisory was developed, and why it is in consumers' best interest to roll it back.

"Evidence shows that the government's seafood advisory has done more harm than good," said Mr. Martosko. "It's time to move it back in the direction of good science. Fish is a health food. Period. The medical literature contains a total of zero mercury-poisoning cases related to Americans eating commercially sold fish. This just might be the best Christmas present health-conscious Americans could hope for."

A recent investigative report from the Center for Consumer Freedom, titled "Tuna Meltdown," found that more than a quarter-million underprivileged children were born at risk of having abnormally low IQs during a recent seven-year period, because of exaggerated government and activist group warnings about trace levels of mercury in fish.

To arrange an interview, contact Sarah Longwell at 202-463-7112.

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