How Green Groups and the Federal Government Put America’s Poorest Children at Risk

Approximately 4.4 million U.S. households earning $30,000 or less completely eliminated their purchases of canned tuna between 2000 and 2006. During those years, women in those households gave birth to nearly 260,000 children. And canned tuna was the only source of omega-3 fatty acids their mothers could afford to buy. These children are victims of public-health malpractice by green groups and the federal government, which have been issuing dire but exaggerated warnings about harmless levels of mercury that have always been present in ocean fish.
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Landmark Study: Pregnant Women Should Eat More Fish
Government-funded research published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet has blown mercury-in-fish fears out of the water. Deceptive environmental campaigns have created the perception that eating large amounts of fish during pregnancy will expose a fetus's developing brain to dangerous levels of mercury. But among the thousands of pregnant women in this study, those who consumed the least seafood during pregnancy had children with the lowest IQs. Mothers-to-be who ate the most fish had the smartest children. It's time for activists -- and the federal government -- to stop scaring Americans away from the fish counter.

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Safe Fish
An investigation of mercury levels in fish sold in the Washington, DC region brings good news for consumers. The highest mercury level was less than 29 percent of what the FDA considers “the lowest level associated with adverse effects” to human health.
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Selenium: Mercury's Magnet
Science indicates that selenium, a plentiful nutrient in fish, neutralizes the trace amounts of mercury found in seafood. When fish-scare environmental groups talk about mercury, they should also mention the protective effects of selenium. But they don’t.
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Don't Eat Whale Meat
Environmental scares about trace amounts of mercury in fish rely on a study of island natives who eat huge amounts of whale meat. But scientists who study heavy fish-eaters find no health risks from mercury. Fish is good for you. Anxiety (and whale blubber) is not.
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Hook, Line & Sinker
Since the first caveman learned to sharpen a stick, fish have been an integral part of the human diet. Like most foods that have been around for millennia, the positive nutritional impact of eating fish far outweighs any theoretical health risks that it might bring. But to a growing and influential school of activist groups, fish isn’t just a source of vital nutrients. It’s a platform for fighting eco-battles and raising money.
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