Fish mercury levels found to be higher

A N.J. study said in-state fillets topped FDA limits. But flounder had lower readings than tuna.

By David Porter

Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J. - This fish story has a message: more flounder, less tuna.

That is part of the gastronomic advice that can be gleaned from a study released this month by two professors and an official of the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Among the conclusions is that a fillet of flounder purchased at a supermarket or fish market in New Jersey contains about one-twelfth the mercury of a similar piece of tuna. It also found that mercury levels in several types of fish purchased here were higher than estimates published by the Food and Drug Administration.

High mercury levels in fish eaten by pregnant women have been connected to deficits in neurological development in their children. Last year, an FDA advisory counseled pregnant women and nursing mothers not to eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish, and to eat no more than six ounces of canned albacore tuna a week.

Eileen Murphy, director of the DEP's Division of Science, Research and Technology, said the study means "we need to look into contaminants in fish on a more widespread basis."

Murphy said the DEP is seeking funding for an expanded study of locally available fish that would test nine species for mercury, dioxin, PCBs and pesticides.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently gave high marks to New Jersey for reducing mercury levels in the environment. Murphy said that any reduction in mercury emissions should ultimately reduce mercury levels in fish, but that "there is so much in the environment now that we should still see mercury in fish for awhile."

The New Jersey study, published in the March issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, sought to measure mercury levels in fish purchased in different regions of the state.

Mercury readings were taken from tuna, flounder and bluefish fillets purchased at 57 markets and fish markets in the northern, central, southern and coastal regions of New Jersey, and significant differences were noted in the mercury levels of the three species.

On average, fresh tuna was found to have a mercury level of 0.64, which represents parts per million, or micrograms per gram. Flounder weighed in at 0.05; and bluefish, at 0.26.

Perhaps more significant, the mercury level in the tuna fillets tested was 68 percent higher than the FDA's estimate of 0.38. The federal agency's estimates are based on data gathered between 1990 and 1992. Fish in the New Jersey study were tested in 2003.

There was little or no difference between FDA estimates and the study's results for flounder and bluefish.

The study suggests that the state publish updated information that lists fish with high and low levels of mercury. Previously published guidelines have considered only fish caught locally by recreational anglers.

"With few exceptions, state advisories do not provide information on the risk from consuming fish purchased commercially," the study said.

DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell has said his department will look at the risks from commercial fish in its future public-health advisories.