From: blconley@aol.com Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2001 11:56 AM To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov Subject: Methylmercury Contamination of Fish, FDA Docket No. OOP-1411/CP 1 Food and Drug Administration, Dockets Management Branch 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061 Rockville, MD 20857 Dear Food and Drug Administration, Dockets Management Branch, Please help protect America's kids from birth defects caused by contaminated fish. Each year more than 60,000 children are born at risk for neurological problems due to exposure to low-level methylmercury from seafood eaten by their mothers, according to the National Academy of Sciences. That is totally unacceptable. Consumers know that fish can be important in a healthy diet. But that is only true if the fish doesn't contain chemical hazards. You need to act now to tighten FDA's allowable exposure level so it is consistent with the standard that the EPA and National Academy of Sciences recommend. Then you need to increase the agency's monitoring and remove seafood from the market that violates this new, tougher standard. I support the petition by the Center for Science in the Public Interest to take these steps. Approve the petition and give fish consumers a break from this poison, please! The FDA also should expand its advisory to pregnant women, women who may become pregnant, and nursing mothers to avoid eating all types of methylmercury-contaminated fish, including tuna steaks. The FDA can publicize the risk best by requiring clear warning labels on packages and in stores. FDA's weak advice to date is just not enough. -------END OF LETTER------------------------- --part1_ad.6a1f04c.27b428a1_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 2/7/01 2:50:49 PM Eastern Standard Time, alert@cspinet.org
writes:


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Please help protect America's kids from birth defects
caused by contaminated fish. Each year more than 60,000
children are born at risk for neurological problems
due to exposure to low-level methylmercury from seafood
eaten by their mothers, according to the National Academy
of Sciences. That is totally unacceptable.

Consumers know that fish can be important in a healthy
diet. But that is only true if the fish doesn't contain
chemical hazards. You need to act now to tighten FDA's
allowable exposure level so it is consistent with the
standard that the EPA and National Academy of Sciences
recommend. Then you need to increase the agency's monitoring
and remove seafood from the market that violates this
new, tougher standard. I support the petition by the
Center for Science in the Public Interest to take these
steps. Approve the petition and give fish consumers
a break from this poison, please!

The FDA also should expand its advisory to pregnant
women, women who may become pregnant, and nursing mothers
to avoid eating all types of methylmercury-contaminated
fish, including tuna steaks. The FDA can publicize
the risk best by requiring clear warning labels on
packages and in stores. FDA's weak advice to date is
just not enough.

Sincerely, Bonnie Conley 17009 Barn Ridge Drive Silver Spring, Maryland 20906