Fronting for industry on tobacco, alcohol and now...risky fish Posted by ayusra at 01/21/06 11:35 AM

There is a slick new website (fishscam.com) that claims to reveal a terrible scam perpetrated by a few fearmongers—namely, warnings to pregnant women and children that they shouldn’t eat certain high-mercury fish. But what is the scam and who is the scammer here?

And just who are the so-called fearmongers who the new website pokes as believing there are risks to mercury levels in certain fish (especially in shark, swordfish, tilefish, Spanish mackerel and albacore tuna)? They include the US Food and Drug Administration, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the National Academy of Sciences, Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports), the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense, and a number of others. These are not organizations normally known for taking outlandish positions on safety and health. Indeed, the Food and Drug Administration has mostly been making news lately for its failure to take strong enough action to control certain dangerous pharmaceuticals. Do these groups look like scammers?

Now, let’s take a close look at the creator of fishscam.com. Actually this is not so easy to do, because he does not identify himself on the site. But the site does admit to being created by the Center for Consumer Freedom, and to being funded by the food and restaurant industry. A little research reveals that its founder and executive director is Rick Berman. Rick who? An independent scientist? An expert on mercury? A doctor perhaps? No, Berman is in fact a lobbyist for the food and restaurant industry.

The Center for Consumer Freedom, according to PR Watch, was originally created with funding from the tobacco industry to fight bans on cigarette smoking in restaurants. Subsequently Berman turned his attention to fighting efforts by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to lower the legal allowable blood alcohol limit. He claimed that drivers were not impaired at the level MADD wanted, even though National Highway Safety Administration agreed with MADD, and a MADD officer had been badly injured and her daughter killed by a driver whose blood alcohol was at the level Berman said was safe.

Now Berman and his new website are trying to say that the "reference dose" of mercury that EPA, FDA and the National Academy of Sciences all say is the upper safe limit for methyl mercury consumption is not legitimate--pregnant women and children can consume ten times that amount safely. Berman says this is based on the fact that EPA and FDA applied a tenfold margin of safety to account for individual differences and other unknowns.

In a study in the Faroe Islands, researchers found that children started suffering mental damage when they consumed “X” amount of mercury per day per kilogram of bodyweight. FDA says people should limit their consumption to a tenth of “X,” to allow a margin of safety given that there are individual differences, cultural differences, food interactions and many other uncertainties. But Berman says people can consume right up to the levels that caused mental damage to the Faroe Islanders, no safety margins needed.

According to PR Watch, as of 2001 Berman’s group was supported by Wendy’s, Outback Steakhouse, White Castle, Applebee’s, Coldwater Seafood, and King and Prince Seafood, among others (see www.disinfopedia.org). Berman is now taking out full page ads in newspapers and has even put up a billboard outside the Lincoln Tunnel in New York City saying “Hooked on Hype? Fishscam.com.” Actually, the website describes itself pretty well—it is quite a scam.

comments (2)

1 Posted by mjdol at 02/17/06 06:43 PM

CCF does no more "fronting" than PETA or CSPI. They all manipulate the facts to serve their own agendas.

2 Posted by Tom Beckett at 04/19/06 12:45 AM

Previous poster's abortive spin is belied by CCF's refusal to disclose its corporate donors, and the fact Berman funnels money from a non-profit to Berman & Co.

As others have pointed out, Berman runs the scam that he projects onto other groups. He misleads people to believe he is a bona fide consumers advocate. He flies under false colors and attacks true consumer advocates -- all while converting 79% of the "contributions" to his Bergman & Co.

Berman defames for profit -- to himself.