June 3, 2005 – Environmentalists concerned over the amount of mercury found in supermarket fish added national grocery chain Safeway to their list of stores they are pressuring to clearly label fish as a potential carrier of high levels of the toxic liquid metal. Studies show that the ingestion of too much mercury can pose a hazard to children, child-bearing women and others.
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The new campaign kicked off with a full page add in Thursday’s New York Times taken out by The Turtle Bay Restoration Project. Activists have been writing company officials demanding warning signs be placed at seafood counters in Safeway stores across the US and Canada, and leaders of the group promise more public actions.
"You can expect to see grassroots activists from our growing coalition of organizations in front of Safeway supermarkets in your neighborhood soon," said Todd Steiner, executive director of the organization, according to a press release.
The FDA and EPA last year issued an advisory warning children, pregnant women and women intending to become pregnant to avoid eating several varieties of fish due to high mercury levels. Shark and Swordfish are among those sources the federal agency said people in those situations should avoid.
Additionally, the agencies cautioned people from consuming tuna in too large a quantity.
Last year the Turtle Island Restoration Project, a group affiliated with the Earth Island Institute, began targeting Whole Foods Market stores with a similar mercury level notification campaign.
