FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 71, NO. 3 



average is only 168 g. Regardless of the dif- 

 ferences between the two estimates of intake, 

 it is evident that even if we assume that all 

 the fish flesh consumed in the United States 

 has 0.5 ppm of mercury, the average daily 

 intake of methylmercury from that class of 

 dietary items should be below 0.03 mg. 



A very recent study (Finch, 1973) based on 

 a computer model indicates that FDA's present 

 interim guideline of 0.5 ppm for mercury in 

 fish could be raised to 1.5 ppm without com- 

 promising public safety. The computer model 

 uses the results of a survey of fish consumption 

 patterns of about 1,500 U.S. families, together 

 with known levels of mercury in 52 kinds of 

 fish, to predict the distribution of the daily 

 intakes of mercury from fish, among the survey 

 participants. 



In 1970, FDA began to test many fish 

 species for mercury content. In a period of a 

 few months they found that nearly 4% of the 

 canned tuna on the wholesale market con- 

 tained amounts of mercury in excess of the 

 FDA guideline of 0.5 ppm, ranging up to 

 approximately 1.0 ppm. Species of tuna pri- 

 marily involved were yellowfin tuna, albacore, 

 ThiDinus alalunga, bigeye tuna, T. obesus, and 

 bluefin tuna, T. thynnus. Approximately 

 12,500,000 standards cans of domestic tuna 

 were voluntarily removed from the U.S. market. 

 At about the same time FDA recalled from 

 the market nearly all swordfish because of high 

 levels of mercury. In May 1971, FDA an- 

 nounced that a 3-mo study showed that all 

 but 42 of 858 samples of swordfish contained 

 mercury at or above the guideline of 0.5 ppm. 

 The U.S. Commissioner of Food and Drugs 

 specifically recommended that the public not 

 eat swordfish. 



Although the contamination of fish and 

 aquatic organisms has been clearly demon- 

 strated in a number of countries, including the 

 United States, so far there is no evidence that 

 the mercury in tunas, swordfish, marlins, and 

 some other of the high-seas pelagic fishes can 

 be attributed to contamination resulting from 

 human activities. When FDA introduced the 

 safety guidelines, which eventually were instru- 

 mental in removing nearly all swordfish and 

 substantial quantities of canned tuna from the 



market, it acted essentially under the assump- 

 tion that the fish product was "adulterated" 

 by an "added substance." Legal aspects of this 

 action have been thoroughly discussed in an 

 article which appeared in Harvard Law Re- 

 view (1972). 



LITERATURE CITED 



Aberg, B., L. Ekman, R. Falk, U. Greitz, G. Persson, 



AND J.-O. SnIHS. 



1969. Metabolism of methylmercury (203Hg) com- 

 pounds in man — excretion and distribution. Arch. 

 Environ. Health 19(4):478-484. 

 Alverson, F. G. 



1963. The food of yellowfin and skipjack tunas in 

 the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. [In Engl, and 

 Span.] Inter-Am. Trop. Tuna Comm.. Bull. 

 7:293-396. 

 Bache, C. a., W. H. Gutenmann, and D. J. Lisk. 



1971. Residues of total mercury and methylmercuric 

 salts in lake trout as a function of age. Science 

 (Wash., D.C.) 172:951-952. 



Barber, R. T., A. Vijayakumar, and F. A. Cross. 



1972. Mercury concentrations in recent and ninety- 

 year-old benthopelagic fish. Science (Wash., D.C.) 

 178:636-638. 



Beckett, J. S., and H. C. Freeman. 



In press. Mercury in West Atlantic swordfish and 

 other pelagic species. Proc. Int. Billfish Symp., 

 Part 2. U.S. Dep. Commer. NOAA Tech. Rep. 

 NMFS SSRF. 

 Berg, W., A. Johnels, B. Sjostrand, and T. Westermark. 

 1966. Mercury content in feathers of Swedish birds 

 from the past 100 years. Oikos 17:71-83. 

 Berglund, F., M. Berlin, G. Birke, R. Cederlof, U. von 

 E'jler, L. Friberg. B. Holmstedt, E. Jonsson, K. G. 

 Luning, C. Ramel, S. Skerfving, A. Swensson, and 

 S. Tejning. 



1971. Methyl mercury in fish. Nord. Hyg. Tidskr. 

 Suppl. 4, 364 p. 



Childs, E. a., and J. N. Gaffke. 



1973. Mercury content of Oregon groundfish. Fish. 

 Bull., U.S. 71: 



ESTABLIER, R. 



1972. Concentracion de mercurio en los tejidos de 

 algunos peces, moluscos y crustaceos del golfo de 

 Cadiz y caladeros del noroeste africano. Invest. 

 Pesq. 36:355-364. 



Finch, R. 



1973. Effects of regulatory guidelines on the intake 

 on mercury from fish — the MECCA project. Fish. 

 Bull., U.S. 71:615-626. 



Forrester, C. R., K. S. Ketchen, and C. C. Wong. 



1972. Mercury content of spiny dogfish (Sqiuilits 

 acanthias) in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia. 

 J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 29: 1487-1490. 

 Ganther, H. E., C. Goudie, M. L. Sunde, M. J. Kopecky, 

 P. Wagner, S.-H. Oh, and W. G. Hoekstra. 



1972. Selenium: relation to decreased toxicity of 



612 



