The Hill News

When I opined about the confusion caused by the 2004 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advice to pregnant women about eating seafood in The Hill’s Congress Blog back in February (Seafood should be next up on FDA plate), I had no way of knowing that my points would be so readily illustrated in the same space little more than a year later (Pollution no match for motherly love). 

I commend Jessica Capshaw for championing a cleaner, safer world for this generation and the next. Cleaning up coal burning power plan! ts is an important mission, and I support the clean air initiatives, but the information presented about seafood contradicts the current advice given to pregnant women by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). 

The current guidelines were adopted after a committee of scientists evaluated the safety of eating seafood during pregnancy and breastfeeding and recommended that pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers eat 8 to 12 ounces (2 servings) of a variety of fish per week, which can include up to 6 ounces of albacore (white) tuna.  

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