On March 7, 2013, the US Food and Drug Administration denied a citizen’s petition to reduce human exposure to mercury and limit allowable levels of mercury in commercially sold seafood in the United States (U.S.) by taking the following actions:
· Replacing the FDA action level of 1.0 parts per million (ppm) mercury in fish with an action level, regulatory limit, or tolerance no greater than 0.5 ppm mercury in fish in order "to protect women of childbearing age, pregnant and nursing women, children and the most vulnerable populations;”
· Enforcing the new action level, regulatory limit, or tolerance and/or prohibit the sale of seafood that contains mercury concentrations that exceed it;
· Revising the fish consumption advice issued jointly by FDA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2004 (FDA/EP A fish consumption advice) to reflect any new 0.5 ppm level;
· Requiring that the fish consumption· advice be posted at point-of-sale locations or on labels of fish "known to be high in methylmercury;"
· Conducting "regular, widespread" testing of commercial seafood for mercury levels and make the results public;
· Revising the FDA concentrations in fish by conducting new mercury analyses of each fish species listed in the FDA database ("Mercury Levels in Commercial Fish and Shellfish"); and
· Modifying FDA's guidance to seafood processors (the Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance) by advising them how they can control for methylmercury.