February 18, 2015

Kevin Delaney
Editor in Chief
Business, Science
Quartz

VIA EMAIL

Dear Mr. Delaney,

I am writing to address editorial concerns with your online article, The mercury level in your tuna is rising.

The writer, Paul Drevnick, is also the author of the very University of Michigan study on which he reports and talks a lot about critical error(s) in other scientists studies of mercury in seafood. He also illustrates the concerns readers should derive from his own conclusions by suggesting that others might propose the mercury levels in tuna are approaching levels that are unsafe. But heres the critical error in the hyperbole he attaches to his study about mercury in fish its about mercury in fish not people. This is not a nutrition study nor is it food consumption research. Mr. Drevnick leaves out the fact that the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) limit for methyl mercury in fish, 1 ppm, was established, to limit consumers methyl mercury exposure to levels 10 times lower than the lowest levels associated with adverse effects.

Did Mr. Drevnicks team find average levels of 10 ppm or even 1 ppm? No. The levels his team found in Pacific yellowfin tuna were 0.3 parts-per-million. Far below the FDAs safety threshold for mercury in seafood.Unfortunately what Mr. Drevnivks team did find was an incomplete narrative that helps perpetuate an unsubstantiated fear about mercury in seafood, arguably the healthiest animal protein on the planet.

Perhaps for your next article Quartz could commission Drevnick to look into why Americans are not being diagnosed with mercury poisoning from the normal consumption of commercial seafood, despite his dire warnings. Or perhaps you could commission an independent reporter to look into the EPA-sponsored research on Selenium Health Benefit Value (HBVSe), or profile research that actually puts this snap shot of an issue into its proper and full perspective.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to hearing you.

Lynsee Fowler
Communications Manager
National Fisheries Institute