|
Mercury in fish brings warning
Pregnant women, kids told of risks
City goes further than Ottawa does
DONOVAN VINCENT
CITY HALL BUREAU
Toronto Public Health is warning pregnant women, those of child-bearing age and young children to completely avoid eating fish with high levels of mercury.
That goes further than Health Canada's fish-consumption advisory from May 2002, which warns that members of that group shouldn't eat fish with levels of mercury between 0.5 and 1.5 parts per million more than once a month.
The recommendations are in a new Toronto Public Health report.
"We're saying (pregnant women, women in child-bearing years, nursing women and young children) should avoid them completely, or eat them less frequently than once a month," Loren Vanderlinden, supervisor of environmental health assessment and policy for Toronto Public Health, said in an interview yesterday.
Fish with high levels of mercury include shark, swordfish and fresh or frozen tuna.
Vanderlinden said new research on the subject has enabled the city's report to fill in "gaps" in health warnings about mercury in fish.
"There's a lot of misinformation out there,'' she said.
The report released yesterday, also says pregnant women and children should not eat more than two servings (170 grams) a week of fish containing low levels of mercury.
Current studies say fish with low levels of mercury (0.5 parts per million and below) include wild and canned salmon, herring, mackerel (except king mackerel), sardines, trout, catfish, pollock and tilapia.
Health Canada sets a guideline of 0.5 parts per million of mercury for domestic and imported fish.
But Toronto Public Health says even those low concentrations can be harmful. Young children should consume only two half-portion servings a week of fish with low mercury concentrations, it says.
The report warns the latest science says methylmercury levels in fish are especially harmful to the brain of the fetus, infant and young child. They can also affect motor skills.
|
