Group: Feds’ ‘mercury hype’ just fishy

17 Mar 2006 // The Center for Consumer Freedom has several targets in its cross hairs these days, including the long-debated federal guidelines for fish consumption.

Oceana, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental group, is conducting human mercury tests to gain ammo for a campaign to put warning labels about the mercury content in fish wherever seafood is sold.

“Not very many people know” about Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency recommendations on fish consumption, said Jackie Savitz of the Campaign to Stop Seafood Contamination. “Oceana wants grocery stores to put signs up that would convey the advice.”

The Center for Consumer Freedom has recoiled against Oceana and its environmental cohorts with a nationwide billboard campaign, staking claim on Boston’s Fan Pier for the International Boston Seafood Show this month.

The bright ocean-blue billboard that sits at one end of the Moakley Bridge reads “Hooked on Mercury Hype? FishScam.com.”

“We respond any time a food scare comes up that’s not justifiable by scientific fact,” said David Martosko, director of research at the center. “We think consumers should be able to eat what they want without junk science.”

FDA and EPA guidelines from 2004 warn against certain fish-eating habits. Therein lies the debate.

Martosko said the study behind the recommendations is flawed. “Anybody who says there’s enough mercury in the fish that we eat in America to harm you simply doesn’t understand the regulatory process,” said Martosko.

Savitz maintains Oceana isn’t warning people away from all fish. “We think fish is an important part of the diet,” said Savitz. “We think that people should eat low-mercury fish.”