April 25, 2013 Kathleen Sebelius Secretary, Health and Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201
[email protected] Cc: Bob Perciasepe Acting Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency Ariel Rios Building, 4101 M 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20460
[email protected] Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg Commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration 10903 New Hampshire Avenue Silver Spring, MD 20993
[email protected] Dear Secretary Sebelius: We, the undersigned, represent a wide range of research scientists, public-interest and consumer organizations with an interest in the federal government’s advice regarding fish consumption, methylmercury in seafood, and health. The current US advisory on this topic, issued by EPA and FDA in March 2004, was developed in 2003, based on studies published in the 1990s, and is now out of date and insufficiently protective of public health. Research carried out in the past decade has both clarified the beneficial nutritional effects of fish consumption during pregnancy and found adverse effects of prenatal methylmercury exposure at very low doses, at least an order of magnitude below exposures known to be harmful when the current Advisory was written. Consumers, the public health community, state health officials and others who advise the public on the benefits and risks of seafood consumption therefore urgently need an up-to-date federal statement on this topic. In 2009, FDA began a process to update the 2004 Advisory by publishing a draft assessment of benefits and risks of fish consumption for public comment. That draft was criticized by many commenters (including some signers of this letter) for a variety of scientific weaknesses.