ORONO, Maine — June 27, 2014 — Researchers with the university’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative uncovered data on women’s knowledge of both the risks and health benefits of eating fish while pregnant. Mario Teisl, a professor in the School of Economics, will discuss results of two studies as a featured speaker at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2014 National Forum on Contaminants in Fish in September, according to a news release from UMaine.
The studies — which were published in two peer-reviewed journals — are among the first to examine how information about methylmercury, an organic compound in fish, is conveyed and interpreted by pregnant women in specific states, according to UMaine.
The first study, published in 2011 in the journal Science of the Total Environment, found that an advisory issued by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention led women to eat less fish.
Instead of limiting fish high in mercury and switching to other types containing less of the toxin, many pregnant women turned away from all fish.
Read the full article at The Bangor Daily News