Balancing Fish Consumption Benefits with Mercury Exposure

Egeland, Grace M.; Middaugh, John P.

doi:10.1126/science.278.5345.1904

Cited by 136 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…This RfD, which has raised considerable debate [6,8,9,16] was based on effects seen in Iraqi children after in utero exposure to a relatively high dose. and young animals after maternal mercury exposure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aging unmasks adverse effects of gestational exposure to methylmercury in rats

Newland

Rasmussen

2000

Neurotoxicology and Teratology

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The consequences of developmental exposure to methylmercury on behavior in aged animals were investigated. Methylmercury exposure was arranged by placing 0, 0.5 or 6.4 ppm Hg in the drinking water of female rats at least 4 weeks before mating and continuing until postnatal (PN) day 16. Brain Hg concentrations in cohorts of low-and high-dose offspring were 0.5 and 9.1 ppm at birth and 0.04 and 0.52 ppm at weaning (described in another report). Lever pressing of female offspring was maintained under a Multiple Differential Reinforcement of High Rate 9:4 Extinction schedule of food reinforcement (Mult DRH 9:4 EXT). Under the DRH 9:4 schedule, a food reinforcer was delivered when nine responses occurred within 4 s. Under the Extinction schedule, responding had no programmed consequences. No exposure-related differences in reinforcement rate under the DRH schedule or discrimination between the DRH and extinction components were apparent initially. At 950 days of age, the overall response rates of controls had shown a gradual decline over the previous 500 days to about 80% of their beginning levels, but, otherwise, most controls were healthy. A gradual decline in the reinforcement rate began to appear in low-and high-dose rats at about 500 and 800 days of age, respectively. Microanalyses of the nine-response burst maintained by the DRH schedule revealed that the lever-press duration increased, the inter-response time (IRT) was unaffected, and the time between response bursts increased. Overall, the nine-response burst remained intact as a coherent response unit. The increased time between response bursts caused the decline in reinforcement rate. All rats displayed these effects as they aged, but the mercury-exposed rats did so sooner. D 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.The hypothesis of``silent damage'' holds that neurotoxicants can act in undetectable ways until another event, such as aging, further challenges nervous system function [38,39]. Difficulties in detecting such damage could be due to the nervous system's extraordinary compensatory ability or because the threshold for neural damage has not been crossed. Delayed neurotoxicity, a necessary element of the hypothesis, is clearly established with methylmercury, especially in sensory± motor domains [4,10,32].In reports that may have prompted the original hypothesis, mice exposed during gestation to high levels of methylmercury showed progressive deterioration in swimming ability and other motor endpoints as they aged [34 ± 36]. These early reports have been supplemented by more recent studies with nonhuman primates [32]. In these, sensory ± motor function [31,32] and higher-order visual function [33] deteriorated more in aging monkeys that had been exposed during development to methylmercury than in controls.Support for the hypothesis that silent damage becomes apparent with aging is also accruing from long-term studies of individuals exposed to methylmercury. As people exposed to methylmercury during the Minamata tragedy have aged, activi...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aging unmasks adverse effects of gestational exposure to methylmercury in rats

Newland

Rasmussen

2000

Neurotoxicology and Teratology

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“…The Oral Reference Dose (RfD) criteria must be considered with a certain degree of care, as they are based on data supplied from an outbreak of mass poisoning through contaminated cereals in Iraq in 1971 and 1972, and their use has been questioned in the calculation of risk of low-level exposure to methylmercury from the consumption of fish 51,52 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation and validation of mercury intake associated with fish consumption in an EPIC cohort of Spain

Sanzo

Dorronsoro²,

Amiano³

et al. 2001

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: To estimate mercury intake due to fish consumption among the individuals from Gipuzkoa participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC), and to validate the estimation of mercury exposure through diet, by measuring blood mercury level. Design and setting: The population for the EPIC Gipuzkoa cohort was recruited from 1992 to 1995. Each individual's diet was assessed regarding habitual intake over the previous year, using the diet history method. Blood samples were taken at the time of the interview. The mercury content of the fish species consumed was supplied by the Food Chemical Surveillance Programme in the Basque Country. Subjects: For the estimation, 8417 volunteers, men and women, aged 35±65 years, of the EPIC cohort; for the validation, a random sample of 120 individuals stratified by fish intake was taken.

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“…Yet, a long-standing scientific controversy debates whether the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s prominent 2001 mercury advisory has improved public health (Egeland andMiddaugh 1997, Cohen et al 2005). This debate has recently taken on increased significance as the FDA and the Environmental Protection Agency disagree over advisory amendments proposed to encourage more fish consumption (Layton 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury advisories and household health trade-offs

Shimshack

Ward

2010

Journal of Health Economics

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The conventional economic wisdom is that improving consumer information will enhance welfare. Yet, some scientists speculate that the Food and Drug Administration's prominent mercury in fish advisory may have harmed public health. Lower mercury intakes reduce neurological toxicity risks. However, since seafood is the predominant dietary source of healthful omega-3 fatty acids, reduced fish consumption may have significant offsetting health impacts. We explore this risk trade-off using a rich panel of household-level seafood consumption data. To control for confounding factors, we use a non-parametric changes-in-changes approach. We find strong evidence that while the advisory reduced mercury loadings, it did so at the expense of substantial reductions in healthful omega-3s. We find this response pattern even for consumers with low fish consumption. Using advisory response patterns as inputs into a prominent risk assessment model, the central estimate is that net benefits from the advisory were negative.2

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Balancing Fish Consumption Benefits with Mercury Exposure

Cited by 136 publications

References 13 publications

Aging unmasks adverse effects of gestational exposure to methylmercury in rats

Aging unmasks adverse effects of gestational exposure to methylmercury in rats

Estimation and validation of mercury intake associated with fish consumption in an EPIC cohort of Spain

Mercury advisories and household health trade-offs

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