Recently Stuart Elliot wrote about the new Tuna The Wondefish campaign in the New York Times, Time to Eat Tuna? Wonder No More

This and other articles have raised a few questions about tuna. Here well answer some of the most common queries:

1. Canned tuna is a healthy, affordable and nutritious food packed with Omega-3 fatty acids that millions of Americans rely on as part of their diet.

2. There is no peer-reviewed science published in any medical journal that contains evidence that anyone has ever come down with mercury poisoning from the normal consumption of commercial seafoodand that includes canned tuna. The only public health risk associated with eating fish is not eating enougha position that was buttressed by advice issued from the government in the latest version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. For more information, please see the Healthy Tuna Web site.

3. In 2004, the FDA issued guidance on seafood consumption for women who are pregnant, want to become pregnant, are nursing and young children. That guidance said that those groups can enjoy up to 6 ounces of albacore tuna or 12 ounces of chunk light tuna per week. Unfortunately, others have interpreted that advice to apply to the general population, when it clearly does not. From the USDAs new dietary guidelines it is clear that Americans aren’t eating enough seafood (twice per week) to enjoy the full health benefits, and willful misinterpretation of the FDA guidance may be one of the reasons why.

4. The tuna fishing community works with the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, a partnership with WWF, to help protect and manage tuna stocks worldwide.

5. Bluefin tuna, a tuna sold as sushi in exclusive restaurants and not as canned tuna, faces serious sustainability challenges. By in large, the stocks of tuna used in canned tuna are healthy. Just a few weeks ago, Prof. Ray Hilborn of t he University of Washington, a former member of the President’s Commission on Ocean Policy, explained in a speech in New Zealand that tuna species other than bluefin are thriving and that stocks are about as plentiful as they were 60 years ago.