California Medical Association Calls for Mercury Warning Labels for Fish
The California Medical Association last week adopted a resolution "urging" the placement of mercury warning labels on fresh and canned fish, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Kay, San Francisco Chronicle, 4/2). The CMA action came after reports of mercury poisoning in people who ate canned tuna in San Francisco. Environmental health advocates sent a letter to Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D) to advocate for the canned tuna labels. Lockyer has been working with the grocery stores Safeway, Kroger, Albertson's, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods to post signs warning "sensitive populations," such as pregnant women and children, about the dangers mercury-contaminated fish can pose, according to a Mercury Policy Project release. "The time has come to label canned tuna and other fish that pose a mercury poisoning threat; our children's health is too important to stall any longer," MPP Director Michael Bender said (MPP release, 4/1). CMA officials plan to refer the resolution to the American Medical Association's annual meeting in June (San Francisco Chronicle, 4/2).
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