San Francisco to Vote on Mercury in Fish Warning Signs; Public Health Groups Say Signs Will Protect Consumers from Mercury in Seafood

April 05, 2010 — By Sea Turtle Restoration Project

San Francisco — San Francisco will consider a mercury in seafood warning sign ordinance today. The multilingual ordinance will improve public health by educating seafood consumers about dangerous mercury exposure from fish. The City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee will hear the ordinance at 1:00 pm.m (PST) on Monday, October 3, 2005, San Francisco City Hall in room 263. The first of its kind in the country, the ordinance would require mercury warning signs in English, Spanish and Chinese in the city and county of San Francisco. Additionally, if passed, the Department of Public Health would be empowered to provide greater enforcement of California¹s law requiring warning signs where seafood is sold.

"San Francisco's ordinance is a groundbreaking initiative that should be replicated across California and nationwide," said Eli Saddler, a public health specialist and attorney for GotMercury.org and the Turtle Island Restoration Network. "More consumers will protect their families from the dangers of eating fish contaminated with mercury by educating people in three languages and by strengthening enforcement of the Prop 65, which requires warning signs."

Proposition 65 is a California consumer right-to-know law that requires businesses selling products known to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm to notify customers. Turtle Island Restoration Network and the As You Sow Foundation filed the original notice of intent to sue supermarkets and restaurants for failure to post Prop 65 warnings in 2002. Currently, California's Attorney General took over the lawsuit against major grocery chains, such as Safeway, because of their failure to comply with mercury in seafood warning sign requirements. California's mercury in seafood warning signs are based on the March 2004 FDA and EPA advisory on methylmercury in fish. However, the FDA¹s former head attempted to halt California's lawsuit to enforce Proposition 65.

Mercury in seafood is a significant public health hazard because all fish are contaminated with mercury to some degree and many people are unaware of the hazards to their families. A recent study of swordfish in the United States found that about half exceeded the 1 ppm safety levels set by the FDA. A study by the Turtle Island Restoration Network also showed that mercury levels in swordfish were significantly higher on average than what the FDA reports.

The Mercury Education and Response Campaign of Turtle Island Restoration Network has been monitoring stores in California to determine compliance with Prop 65 mercury warning sign requirements. Recent data shows that the majority of stores are not adequately posting signs. Statewide, about 70 percent of supermarkets, including Safeway, Whole Foods and others are failing to properly notify customers about mercury in fish.

"I personally visited every Safeway store in San Francisco and found that almost none of the stores adequately warned their customers. We applaud San Francisco¹s action to protect its citizens by requiring multilingual signs and enforcing better compliance. This is the right thing to do," said Eli Saddler, a public health specialist and attorney with Turtle Island. He continued, "Gotmercury.org and Oceana called upon major grocery store chains, like Safeway, to place similar signs in all their stores nationwide last week in the New York Times."

Todd Steiner, executive director of Turtle Island, said, "This is a simple and inexpensive way to give the public the information they need to make informed decisions to protect their own health and the health of their families. TIRN is prepared to provide free signage in all three languages to supermarkets and restaurants who ask us for it."

Methylmercury (the organic form of mercury found in all seafood) is a potent neurotoxin that can cause nervous system and brain damage in developing fetuses, infants and young children. According to the EPA, one in six women of childbearing age in the United States has unsafe blood levels of mercury. This translates to potentially 630,000 babies at risk of mercury exposure in the womb in the United States annually. Yet the FDA estimates that between one third and half of women are unaware of the risk. Methylmercury also causes neurological damage, cardiac disease and other birth defects. Human mercury comes primarily from the consumption of mercury-contaminated seafood.

Mercury contamination of seafood is an ongoing public health threat. The FDA warns pregnant women to "protect your unborn child by not eating these large fish that can contain high levels of methylmercury: shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish." Furthermore, the California Attorney's General mercury warning sign states that women of childbearing age should also "limit their consumption of other fish, including fresh or frozen tuna." (bold text in original). The Attorney General's web site is at http://caag.state.ca.us.

Turtle Island has created an online calculator in both English and Spanish for consumers to estimate their own mercury exposure from eating seafood by visiting www.GotMercury.org. Turtle Island aims to make this valuable tool available in additional languages in the near future.

Available Resources 1. Consumers can calculate their own mercury exposure from eating seafood by visiting www.gotmercury.org.
2. B-roll
3. Electronic Press Kit available at www.seaturtles.org/prog_camp2.cfm?campaignID=20./a>
4. Interviews with mercury poisoned women and children available.
5. Mercury in swordfish report at www.seaturtles.org/press_release2.cfm?pressID=227.
6. FDA and EPA Consumer Advisory on Methylmercury in Fish at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/admehg3.html.

About GotMercury.org
GotMercury.org is part of the Mercury Education and Response Campaign (MERC) of Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN). TIRN is a California-based marine conservation and public health advocacy organization that works to protect sea turtles and other marine species in the United States and in countries around the world while protecting the public mercury in seafood. For more information about sea turtles and the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, please visit www.seaturtles.org.

For more information on mercury in seafood and marine species protection please visit the TIRN website at by visiting www.seaturtles.org and clicking on Program and Campaigns then Mercury, Swordfish and Sea Turtles Campaigns or visit http://www.seaturtles.org/prog_camp2.cfm?campaignID=20 .

Contact
Eli Saddler, JD, MPH, MA
Mercury Response & Education Campaign
Turtle Island Restoration Network
PO Box 400
Forest Knolls, CA 94933
Phone: 415-488-0370 ext. 104
Cellular: 415-342-7497
Email: eli@gotmercury.org