Mark Penn's firm behind PR blitz urging pregnant women to eat more fish, mercury be damned! [View All]

[Bluebear]

Oct. 4, 2007 (Bloomberg) -- A nonprofit group backed by the seafood industry urged pregnant women and nursing mothers to eat more fish than recommended by U.S. officials concerned that mercury contamination can hurt babies.

The group, the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, said women who avoid seafood to limit exposure to mercury deprive their babies and themselves of essential nutrients. Women should eat at least the 12 ounces a week suggested as a maximum by the government, the coalition said today at a briefing in Washington.

Child-development and nutrition specialists produced and promoted the report, with $74,000 from the seafood industry's advocacy arm, the National Fisheries Institute. That group is a client of Burson-Marsteller, a New York-based public-relations unit of WPP Group Plc in London. A Burson-Marsteller employee serves as vice-chairman of the coalition behind the study. The coalition said it was acting in the public's interest.

"It's our job to translate the science for people who need it most," said Judy Meehan, executive director of the Alexandria, Virginia-based coalition, in a telephone interview today. ``This is of critical importance. What happens during those nine months affects that individual's lifetime.''

Institute vice president Maryanne Hansan declined to disclose fees paid to Burson-Marsteller. At that firm, representative Patricia Pincus declined to comment on the company's relationships with its clients.

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