Man cries wolf about fish dinner

By: David Martosko
Newspaper: The Casper Star Tribune

The Food and Drug Administration's "safe" level of mercury in fish has a 1,000-percent safety cushion built into it. The same goes for the Environmental Protection Agency's "reference dose" of mercury in a human hair sample. So unless Robertson's samples were literally 10 times over the "limit," his daily catch isn't harming him in the least.

Every two years, federal government scientists test tens of thousands of Americans for mercury and other contaminants. They've never identified any Americans whose mercury levels were likely to be unsafe. And the published medical literature doesn't include a single case of fish-related mercury poisoning. Not one.

So relax. Fish is still a health food. But stress and worry can be bad for your heart.