Apparently some lawmakers in Texas think they know better than doctors, dietitians and researchers when it comes to how to educate sensitive subpopulations about the trace amounts of the naturally occurring methylmercury found in fish.

The Texas House just passed a bill that calls for warning signs about mercury in seafood, directed at pregnant, to be posted in stores and it’s headed to the state senate.

Here’s the problem the federal advice on this subject authored by the FDA/EPA is very clear and very target: it says pregnant women, women who might become pregnant and young children should avoid four rarely eaten fish – shark, tilefish, swordfish and king mackerel. That advice is conveyed through doctors and dieticians because it is designed for a very specific population and not consumers broadly. The advice is not designed for average consumers but there are tremendous concerns about “spill over” effect and how that could negatively impact the general population.

You’re a fit 35 year old man and you see what amounts to a warning sign at the fish counter and, despite the fact that it doesn’t apply to you at all, you take a pass on a heart healthy staple-that sign has just had an unintended negative impact on public health. Or, worse, you’re a pregnant women and you see that sign but without a doctor or dietitian to explain that the omega-3 fatty acids found in seafood are essential to your baby’s brain and eye development you avoid not only the 4 on the list but all fish-another potential unintended negative impact on public health.

What’s more, women in this country don’t eat enough seafood, as it is, to even approach a level of concern. In fact the real concern found in the typical American diet is a lack of seafood. Simply put Americans aren’t eating enough fish to reap the health benefits, let alone introduce concerns based on eating too much.

A National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) shows that on any given day only a fourth of the population eats any fish-based omega-3s, DHA or EPA, at all. This typical high meat, low seafood diet can lead to omega-3 deficiencies that negatively impact babies’ development.

FDA data shows women, especially pregnant women, eat seafood at levels far lower than those associated with optimal health benefits. The average American woman eats 2.97 ounces of seafood per week, and just 1.89 ounces per week during pregnancy. Yet crusading legislators think they need signs in stores to warn them away from a product they are already failing to consume to the point of benefit.

Having said all that, the larger fact is that the types of seafood that Americans do eat are species naturally lower in mercury. In fact the ten most commonly eaten fish represent 90% of the total seafood eaten in the United States and all are commercial fish with insignificant amounts of mercury.

Here’s hoping Lone Star politicians aided by misguided sound bite science don’t do the residents of their state a disservice.