The
FDA recommends that pregnant women, and potentially pregnant woman, should
not consume fish which have high mercury levels; mercury has been proven to
cause harm to an unborn child's developing nervous system.
When
mercury is consumed by fish it is converted to organic methylmercury by bacteria
and readily taken up into aquatic food chain.
***Click on the picture for more mercury findings in fish eaters like you!***
High
levels of mercury can be found in large fish that have long lifespans like
swordfish, sharks, tuna, bluefish, striped bass, trout, pike, and salmon.
Fish at the top of the food chain have the highest concentration of methylmercury.
Because
mercury is airborne, it can be easily
spread and can contaminate even the most remote lakes and rivers.
More
than 50 species of fish have been advised to be restricted for human consumption.
The
mercury levels found in fish muscle tissue can be one million times greater
than the mercury concentration found in the lake or body of water.
It
only takes 1/70th of a teaspoon of mercury to contaminate a 25-acre lake to
the point where fish are unsafe to eat.
There
are forty states that have issued fish advisories on account of the mercury
contamination.
Know
the Levels of Mercury in the fish YOU Eat
Information primarily taken from March of Dimes.