CA Court of Appeals ruling a win for Health & Budget Conscious Families

March 11, 2009 Washington, DC For the second time in three years, a California court has refused to require mercury warnings in conjunction with the sale of canned tuna. The state attorney general’s office, prompted by environmental groups, has tried to insist on warnings to accompany canned tuna. In 2004 the state failed in its efforts to have a lower court mandate caution labels directly on tuna cans. In a January appeal of that decision they modified their request, this time asking for signs in stores instead. Today the court denied that request too.

The courts have now spoken on this issue twice, said John Connelly, President of the National Fisheries Institute (NFI). Tuna is a safe, healthy product and one of the most inexpensive forms of protein for American families attempts to depict it in any other light do a disservice to consumers in California and at large.

Californias attorney general sued American tuna canners citing Proposition 65, a state regulation that mandates warnings on products that cause reproductive harm or cancer.

Canned tuna is one of the best sources of essential omega-3s, key to baby brain and eye development as well as heart heath, and is an affordable contribution to a healthy diet. It is simply not a product that California, or any other state, should expend resources warning consumers away from, said Jennifer McGuire, NFIs registered dietitian.

The ruling comes in the wake of an extensive Food and Drug Administration (FDA) draft report on mercury in seafood that illustrates how concerns over the trace amount of mercury found in fish are over stated. The report lends evidence to the conclusion that, given the average American diet, the real concern is not eating enough seafood.

Even a cursory review of the latest research shows that scaring people away from a healthy product like tuna borders on reckless, said Connelly. The judges have ruled and the science has spokenits always helpful to go into court with the facts on your side and the able representation of attorneys like Forrest Hainline and his team at
Goodwin Procter.

For more than 60 years, the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) and its members have provided American families with the variety of sustainable seafood essential to a healthy diet. For more information visit: www.AboutSeafood.com.

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Contact Information

Gavin Gibbons
(703) 752-8891
ggibbons@nfi.org