The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is dealing with a lawsuit after failing to respond to a petition encouraging strict mercury limits in seafood.
The petition requested the FDA to cut permitted mercury levels from 1 part per million (ppm) to 0.5ppm to bring them in line with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommendations.
Petitioners also encouraged the implementation of rules requiring seafood sellers to post signs about the danger of mercury in fish and improved health advisories for people most at risk from mercury exposure.
According to federal law, the FDA have 180 days to answer to a written petition but, however, more than a year has passed and the FDA have not responded.
Todd Steiner, executive director for the Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN) said: “We are filing suit because the government has failed to respond to reasonable precautions protecting Americans from mercury toxicity in seafood.
“By not responding within the 180 days dictated by law, the FDA is demonstrating its lack of due diligence and its obligation to protect women of childbearing age, pregnant and nursing women, children and the most vulnerable populations from harm”.
Mercury is a naturally occurring element discovered in air, water and earth. However if mercury is exposed, it can have an effect on the human nervous system and cause serious damage to the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs and the immune system.
The EPA say that humans are easily exposed to mercury by consuming fish or shell fish.
David McGuire, from GotMercury.org, said: “By ignoring its own standards and allowing seafood that is high in mercury to be sold, the FDA is putting hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting Americans at risk of permanent nerve damage and cognitive disorders.
“The FDA is putting Americans in harm’s way through its lack of advisories, enforcement and testing of our nation’s seafood supply”.
This is not the first time the FDA is having to deal with a lawsuit after refusing to answer a petition.
In December last year, the federal authority was forced to set a date to reach a decision on a petition to ban bisphenol A (BPA) in food and drink packaging.
The FDA promised to reach a decision on the 2008 petition by 31st March 2012 as part of a court settlement with the Natural Resource Defence Council (NRDC).