The site — “The Truth About Fish and Mercury” — will serve as a source of authoritative, science-based information.
“A space dedicated to debunking mercury myths is desperately needed because for years, activists have willfully fed an often lazy, unsuspecting and sympathetic media groundless warnings about eating fish,” said NFI Vice President Mary Anne Hansan.
“Americans already aren’t eating enough seafood to protect their health, resulting in tens of thousands of preventable deaths each year,” Hansan added.
“Activists are literally scaring Americans to death.”
The website notes a number of facts, including:
- A recent Harvard study found low seafood consumption is the second biggest dietary contributor to preventable deaths in the United States, taking 84,000 lives each year — a toll greater than diabetes.
- The American diet contains the second-lowest percentage of fish in the world — 15 pounds, or less than one seafood meal a week.
- Children whose mothers eat no fish during pregnancy are 29 percent more likely to have abnormally low IQs, according to research from the Nutritional Neuroscience division at the National Institutes of Health.
“Anyone who warns against eating fish is ignoring the significant body of peer-reviewed, nutrition science that shows a seafood-rich diet is not only safe, but extremely healthful ,” said NFI’s Jennifer McGuire, MS, RD.
“People hear so much about what not to eat and dragging fish into that fear-mongering comes at a cost.”
