Physicians Group Protests Federal Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Fish Consumption Recommendations

5/25/2004

From: Howard White of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 202-686-2210 ext. 339 or hwhite@pcrm.org

News Advisory:

-- Mobile Billboard Outside Meeting Site Will Protest DGAC Decision Recommending Americans Eat 2-3 Servings of Fish Per Week Despite Mercury Content

WHAT: The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) will park a mobile billboard outside the Holiday Inn-Bethesda, the meeting site for the Federal Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, to protest an expected recommendation by the DGAC that Americans eat eight to nine ounces of fish a week, despite the health threat posed by mercury and other pollutants in fish and shellfish.

WHO: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit health organization that promotes preventive medicine, especially good nutrition. PCRM conducts clinical research studies, opposes unethical human experimentation, and promotes alternatives to animal research.

WHEN: Wednesday, May 26 (1-5 p.m.) Thursday, May 27 (8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.)

WHERE: Holiday Inn-Bethesda, 8120 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD

WHY: The single biggest source of dietary mercury -- a neurotoxin -- comes from eating fish and shellfish contaminated by industry smokestack emissions. Mercury is such a potent neurotoxin that it can cause irreversible brain and heart damage. Particularly at risk are women of childbearing age, pregnant women and children. More than 600,000 babies are born every year at risk from mercury-related defects, including physical malformations, learning disabilities, mental retardation and permanent neurological damage. The Federal Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is the panel of nutritional experts convened by HHS and USDA every five years to determine dietary goals and recommendations for the American public. If the DGAC follows through, it would the first time it has specifically recommended eating fish as an integral part of American diet. Given the clear evidence that fish are commonly contaminated with toxins that have well-known and irreversible damaging effects on children and adults, federal nutrition policy should not encourage the consumption of fish.

EDITOR'S NOTE: TO ARRANGE INTERVIEWS or for more information, contact Howard White at (202) 686-2210, ext. 339; hwhite@pcrm.org