GotMercury? and the Sea Turtle Restoration Project are attacking the tuna marketing campaign, Tuna The Wonderfish. Their claims are flat out lies, and the people behind Got Mercury? should be ashamed of themselves for pursuing a radical agenda at the expense of the health and well being of millions of Americans.

Tuna is an affordable, healthy choice for Americans who want more omega-3s in their diet and less saturated fat. Tuna is part of a healthy diet, which is exactly what the ads say. The message and ads are accurate and appropriate for all audiences. The U.S. Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) advice to pregnant women is to eat two seafood meals a week. That could mean 12 ounces of chunk light tuna or, as the FDA explicitly states, 6 ounces of albacore tuna. There have been no documented cases of mercury poisoning from the normal consumption of commercial seafood in the U.S.

With its latest effort, GotMercury? and their parent organization have sealed their reputations as organizations that care more about sea turtles than human beings. The Sea Turtle Restoration Project has crossed the line before in this area. They have deliberately distorted the results of quasi-scientific tests on fish. Their goal is to present reporters with alarming stories designed to terrify audiences about mercury poisoning. But while they claim that they merely want to protect the public from harm, the result only scares people into eating less fishthereby depriving millions of its proven health benefitsso fewer sea turtles are accidentally harmed by commercial fishing.

During the 2010 holiday season, Got Mercury? demonstrated its blatant disregard for the neediest in our society when it launched a campaign to stop people from donating canned tuna to food banks. 6 million needy Americas depend on food banks every year to help feed their families. In turn, the seafood industry has donated more than 25 million pounds of fish to food banks in the last 15 yearsthe equivalent of about 133 billion tuna sandwiches. If Got Mercury? had gotten their way, how many millions of people would have gone hungry at the time when they were most desperate for help?

But as weve mentioned before, concern about the health and well being of millions of people is only of secondary concern when youve got a narrow ideological agenda. I guess we shouldnt be surprised that an outfit like Got Mercury? is willing to spin liesno matter how bigover and over again.