Wash. Post reported coalition's findings on seafood consumption Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 12:54:04 -0400

Wash. Post reported coalition's findings on seafood consumption without noting ties to industry

http://mediamatters.org/items/200710120003

An October 4 Washington Post article reported on a public advisory announced by the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition that contradicted Food and Drug Administration recommendations concerning how much seafood pregnant and breast-feeding women should consume. But staff writer Sally Squires did not note that organizations affiliated with the coalition have distanced themselves from the coalition's recommendations, or that the coalition received financial backing from the National Fisheries Institute -- a self-described "advocacy organization for the seafood industry." Further, Squires cited a February 17 article in the British journal The Lancet without noting subsequent criticism of the article.

The Post reported: "Pregnant and breast-feeding women should eat at least 12 ounces of fish and seafood per week to ensure their babies' optimal brain development, a coalition of top scientists from private groups and federal agencies plans to declare today." The article added that the "scientists' conclusion is at odds with the standard government advice issued in 2001 that new mothers and mothers-to-be should eat no more than 12 ounces of seafood per week because of concerns about mercury contamination." The Post described the coalition as "a nonprofit group with nearly 150 members, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the March of Dimes, as well as federal agencies including the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." But the Post did not note that the Department of Health and Human Services -- which includes several agencies that are coalition members -- said that HHS does not support the coalition's announcement. On October 4, National Public Radio's (NPR) All Things Considered reported:

The top federal government agencies in charge of delivering public health messages expressed surprise over the announcement from Healthy Mothers, Healthy babies recommending increased fish consumption.

"We are members of the coalition, but we were not informed of this announcement in advance, and we do not support it," says Christina Pearson, spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services.

Pearson says neither the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nor the Food and Drug Administration knew about the announcement.

Since the advisory was announced at a press conference, the March of Dimes -- another coalition member -- has issued a statement contradicting the coalition's recommendations:

We continue to recommend that pregnant and nursing women eat no more than a maximum each week of 12 ounces of fish that are low in mercury, such as shrimp, salmon, pollock, catfish, and canned light tuna; and no more than 6 ounces of white (albacore) tuna in one week, because of the concern that albacore is high in mercury, which is especially toxic during early brain development. This position mirrors the recommendations of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

The Post article also did not note that the coalition received a $60,000 grant from the National Fisheries Institute to create a website promoting the coalition's recommendations. NPR quoted Elizabeth Jordan, a member of the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition board of directors, acknowledging the funding:

During the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies news conference, the moderator, Elizabeth Jordan, was asked how the organization is funded. She acknowledged that the group has received funding from the National Fisheries Institute -- an industry group that promotes seafood.

"We actually received a $60,000 educational grant," Jordan said. "That money is put forth to create a microsite for the information presented here today."

Jordan said a Web site will be used to help inform consumers.

Several other news organizations also reported on the coalition's financial ties to the seafood industry:

According to an October 10 Washington [D.C.] City Paper report about the Post article, Squires told the City Paper that she did not note the National Fisheries Institute funding in her October 4 report because it was intended "for dissemination of the information, not for its generation":

Whatever her access, Squires says she hammered at the coalition's funding from the start. "The question of backing from the National Fisheries Institute is one of the first questions that I asked of National Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies," writes Squires via e-mail. That line of inquiry, writes Squires, "was one of those things that dropped out of the daily story"-- primarily because the $60,000 in funding to the Healthy Mothers group was for dissemination of the information, not for its generation.

In the October 4 article, Squires further reported: "Earlier this year, a team of British and American scientists reported in the Lancet that children of women who ate the smaller amounts recommended in the United States during pregnancy had lower IQs and lower academic test scores at age 8, and more behavioral and social problems throughout early development, than youngsters whose mothers ate 12 or more ounces per week." Indeed, a February 17 Lancet article reported that "[t]he information ... shows no evidence that consumption of more than three portions of seafood a week during pregnancy has an adverse effect on the behaviour or development of the child. By contrast, maternal consumption of more than 340 g[rams] seafood a week was beneficial for the child's neurodevelopment." In February, Squires devoted two articles to these findings.

But the Post has not reported on subsequent criticism of the findings published in The Lancet. In the July 21 issue of The Lancet, Alan Stern, section chief for risk assessment in the Division of Science, Research and Technology of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and Deborah Rice, Environmental and Occupational Health Program, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Maine Department of Health and Human Services, challenged the methodology in the February 17 article. They wrote: "In light of this inability to draw reliable inferences about the relation between methylmercury exposure and developmental outcomes, we believe that [Joseph R.] Hibbeln and colleagues' advice implying the inappropriateness of existing US FDA guidance on fish consumption is irresponsible. The responsible advice should be to eat fish, but to choose those low in mercury."

According to a Nexis search by Media Matters for America, no Post article has mentioned the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition or the National Fisheries Institute since Squires' October 4 report.

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