The FDA is hard at work again, protecting the health and welfare of big businesses that provide its funding.

Four years ago, the EPA and FDA issued a joint advisory warning women of childbearing age, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and children to stop eating swordfish, shark, tilefish and king mackerel, and to limit their consumption of other mercury-contaminated fish to a maximum of 12 ounces per week.

Now the FDA is trying to backpedal against a raging river, stating the benefits of eating more than 12 ounces a week of fatty fish like tuna outweigh the health hazards of mercury.

Folks, don’t believe this nonsense for even one second.

There are plenty of studies showing that mercury contamination from fish consumption constitutes a health hazard for mothers and their babies, such as the 2007 study published in Environmental Health Perspectives, showing fish consumption is positively associated with premature delivery.

There are also plenty of real-life examples of people who suffered serious health problems from eating too much fish. Actor Jeremy Piven springs to mind, as he abruptly ended his Broadway run last week due to mercury poisoning from his frequent sushi habit.

But how much is too much?

GotMercury.org can help you answer that question with their handy mercury calculator.

For example, if a woman weighing 145 pounds ate 12 ounces (about 2 fillets) of yellowfin tuna per week, her weekly mercury intake would be 240 percent over the current EPA “safe” limit!

Multiply that over the course of a year, and you surely will not be looking at a health benefit from omega-3, but rather a health disaster from mercury poisoning.

In response to the FDA’s plan to rescind the mercury in fish advisories for women and children, the Mercury Policy Project released an expanded case study, documenting 23 people who got sick from eating too much mercury-laden fish.

“Mercury levels in swordfish and tuna sold in the U. S. are sky-high,” says Teri Shore, Program Director for the GotMercury Project of Turtle Island Restoration Network in Forest Knolls, CA.

“And now the government and tuna companies want to keep mothers and children completely in the dark about it.”

Dr. Jane Hightower, M.D. of San Francisco has even chronicled the seafood industry’s interference in public health policy in her book Diagnosis: Mercury: Money, Politics and Poison.

“We’ve known for years that mercury is toxic to the brain and other organs in varying amounts depending on the individual’s status. For FDA to suddenly change the equation to say that benefits outweigh risks is like once again declaring the earth is flat after discovering it was round.

“Patients in my private medical practice, as well as at other doctor’s offices around the country, have been diagnosed with mercury toxicity from eating too much fish. Ignoring the presence of a known neurotoxin in one’s diet is simply asking for trouble,” says Dr. Hightower.

There is no doubt in my mind that the benefits you get from eating fish and seafood – especially while pregnant – do NOT outweigh the risk of mercury toxicity to yourself or your developing child.  Mercury is a real toxin and brain poison that can and will cause serious damage to your central nervous system.

Taken from Mercola.com   Read the entire article here.