The
knowledge you need
In order to limit your exposure to mercury contaminated seafood when pregnant,
nursing, or considering pregnancy, here is a list of the types of fish known
to contain above average levels of mercury. You can also view current
Louisiana fish advisories online.
*These should be avoided if pregnant:
To stay informed
of seafood with problematic levels of mercury women are advised to contact their
doctors.
Fish provide
important health benefits to the developing fetus, and pregnant women should
be encouraged to eat fish with consistently low mercury levels. With too many
species, however, these nutritional benefits are outweighed by the hazards of
mercury.
If American
women ate a varied diet of FDA's recommended 12 ounces of fish a week they would
expose more than one fourth of all fetuses to a potentially harmful dose of
methyl mercury for at least one month during pregnancy.
That about
10 percent of all women of childbearing age have blood mercury levels above
the dose that may put their fetus at risk for adverse neurological effects.
It only takes
a fraction of a teaspoon of mercury to contaminate an entire 25-acre lake to
the point where fish are unsafe to eat.
Power plants
are responsible for 34% of the total mercury emitted by all known sources. Older
power plants emit as much as ten times more pollution that modern plants.