Mercury rising

New research from the Harvard School of Public Health shows that eating oily fish during pregnancy could raise the risk of premature birth. The blame may lie with the high levels of mercury found in some fish. In this research, information was gathered from 1,024 pregnant women on the amount and type of fish eaten during the pregnancy. Hair samples were taken and the amount of mercury in each sample was measured. Results showed that those who ate the most fish, (especially canned fish), had the highest levels of mercury. And women who gave birth more than two weeks early were three times as likely to have double the average mercury level in their hair samples. Viva!Health have been warning people for years about the dangers of eating fish contaminated with toxic pollutants such as mercury, dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). To claim there is a ‘safe’ dose of mercury for children and pregnant women is astonishing.

_{Xue F, Holzman C, Rahbar MH, Trosko K and Fischer L. 2006. Maternal Fish Consumption, Mercury Levels and Risk of Preterm Delivery. Environmental Health Perspectives. 115 (1) 42-47.}