|
|
6% US Women of Childbearing Age Have Worrying Mercury Levels
|
About 6% of U.S. women of childbearing age have blood mercury levels high enough to harm a developing fetus, according to a study published in the Nov. 5 issue of CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Wahlberg, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/4).
Mercury accumulates in the environment, in the flesh of fish and in the bodies of humans and other animals that eat fish. High levels of mercury in pregnant women and women of childbearing age have been shown to contribute to birth defects, and several studies have demonstrated a subtle loss of mental acuity in the offspring of women who consume fish during pregnancy.
As a result, FDA and the Environmental Protection Agency have released guidelines recommending that women of childbearing age, pregnant women, women who are nursing and young children limit their intake of certain types of fish that have been found to have high mercury content (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 10/22).
CDC researchers studied blood samples taken from more than 3,600 women ages 16 to 49 between 1999 and 2002. Among the women studied, 8% had unsafe blood mercury levels in 1999-2000, compared with 4% in 2001-2002. However, CDC said the recorded decline between 1999-2000 and 2001-2002 could be a sampling error and cited 6% as the "best estimate" of the percentage of U.S. women of childbearing age who have unsafe blood mercury levels (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/4).
Last month, the interim results of a nationwide study commissioned by the environmental advocacy group Greenpeace showed that about 20% of women of childbearing age in the United States have blood mercury levels that exceed government-recommended guidelines (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 10/22).
Robert Jones, a research chemist at CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, said, "The good news is the vast majority of childbearing-aged women in this country have low levels of mercury in their blood and bodies." He added that the CDC findings should "assure" most women that they "are not at much risk" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/4).
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_repro.cfm#26613
|
|
