Washington, DC – A new website from the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom tackles the politics of fish fears, explaining that the health benefits of eating fish far outweigh the publicly exaggerated risks. www.FishScam.com puts these risks in their proper perspective and blows the whistle on environmental and animal-rights campaigns that irresponsibly hype fish fallacies.
www.FishScam.com features a mercury-in-fish calculator based on the federal government’s “Benchmark Dose Lower Limit” — a measure of the lowest dose of mercury (in tuna and other fish) that government scientists believe might put the public’s health at risk. Similar calculators run by the Environmental Working Group and other activist organizations instead use the Environmental Protection Agency’s mercury “Reference Dose” — which is 1,000 percent lower than this “Benchmark” level.
By focusing the public’s attention on the wrong number, green groups are using tiny amounts of mercury in fish to generate a needless public outcry — and to raise money.
“The amount of mercury that might actually be harmful is many times greater than what Americans get from the fish on their plates,” said Center for Consumer Freedom Director of Research David Martosko. “The real harm threshold is ten times greater than what some activist groups want us to consider ‘unsafe.’ The best science indicates that you shouldn’t worry about mercury in your diet unless you eat a massive amount of fish. We’re showing the public what the fearmongers won’t.”
In addition to the Internet’s first realistic mercury-in-fish calculator, www.FishScam.com provides point-by-point rebuttals to the fish scares promoted by over a dozen activist groups, and sets the record straight on often-repeated mercury myths. It also offers science-based information about mercury, activist boycotts of Atlantic swordfish and Chilean sea bass, and flawed animal-rights arguments about whether or not fish feel pain.
“Fish is good for you,” added Martosko. “Baseless anxiety isn’t. Fish have been an integral part of the human diet since the first caveman learned to sharpen a stick. But today’s green groups increasingly see seafood as an ideal platform for fighting eco-battles and raising money. Americans need to be reminded that the health benefits of eating fish are very real, while the risks are largely imaginary.”
Print-ready images of www.FishScam.com are available to journalists.
To schedule an interview, contact Andrew Porter at 202.463.7112.
