EPA

Today, the Washington Post published a disturbing story on the government’s seafood consumption advisory. As you’re probably aware, the current advisory came from an Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration joint effort back in 2004. The current advisory urges:

• Women of childbearing age and young children should not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish.
• These groups should also limit their consumption of fresh and albacore tuna to 6 ounces or less a week.
• They can also eat a variety of up to 12 ounces of lower mercury seafood in a week.

However, the Washington Post reports that FDA wants to weaken the advisory based on research on “omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and other minerals.” Meanwhile, the EPA feels that the FDA suggestion is "scientifically flawed and inadequate" and it doesn’t maintain "scientific rigor routinely demonstrated by EPA."

For members of our Campaign to Stop Seafood Contamination, the front page of today's Philadelphia Inquirer held a familiar image -- the smokestacks of Olin Corporation's Charleston,TN chlorine plant. Part three of a four-part investigative series called "Smoke and Mirrors: The Subversion of the EPA" focuses on the Olin plant's participation in EPA's Performance Track program despite its rank as the number one mercury polluter in Tennessee.

This morning I attended the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's rally to Save the Bay. The rally was a lead-up to today's meeting of the Executive Council of the EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program. On Oct. 29, the CBF, along with its allies, filed a notice of intent to sue the EPA for its failure to enforce the federal Clean Water Act and clean up the Bay by 2010 as it promised in a 2000 agreement.

There were a few hundred people gathered outside Union Station, most wearing symbolically black shirts with the words, "The Bay is Slowly Dying" and chanting "Don't Delay! Save the Bay!"

Ok, I can't resist -- one more seafood post today.

The EPA has a new web site, Fish Kids, to teach kids about mercury in seafood. There are animated games and stories that drive home the lessons to watch out for mercury.

My favorite part? It's all about the adventures of the Fisher family... which happens to be the last name of yours truly.