A coalition of consumer groups is asking the Department of Agriculture to get tuna out of school lunchrooms after tests of canned tuna found highly variable levels of mercury, in some cases higher than federal guidelines.
Industry groups countered that canned tuna is safe and wholesome. The real issue is that "we don't eat enough" seafood, says Gavin Gibbons of the National Fisheries Institute.
The non-profit Mercury Policy Project tested 59 samples of tuna in institution-size cans and foil pouches from 11 states. Levels of mercury varied widely, even from the same can or pouch.
"Children eating the same meal could get mercury doses that vary by tenfold, just because of the variability of the chunk of meat in the packet," says Edward Groth, author of the report released Wednesday.
Even tiny levels of methylmercury have been linked to learning disabilities and developmental delays in children, according to EPA scientists.
Federal dietary guidelines urge eating seafood twice a week because it is a healthy protein and contains omega-3 fatty acids, important for metabolism, but most people eat it once a week or less, Gibbons says.
"To suggest we're eating too much is almost comical," he says. Scaring children away from tuna "at a point in their life when they're developing their nutrition habits and their palates" is damaging, he says.
To ensure that the brains of fetuses and children aren't exposed to levels high enough to damage them, the EPA and FDA said in 2004 that women who are pregnant or might be pregnant can eat up to two meals, or 12 ounces, of fish and shellfish a week. Children should eat "smaller portions," the guidelines said.
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