这鱼到底能吃吗

科学家们的最新研究表明怀孕的妇女要多吃鱼，而政府曾经试图说服孕妇要有控制地摄入鱼类，因为鱼裏面的含汞量使吃鱼变得很危险。根据美国食品与药物管理局和环境保护局最近的官方建议，孕妇和孩子每个星期可以放心食用高达12盎司的鱼。

The federal government has been trying to persuade pregnant and breast-feeding women to limit their intake of fish because of mercury contamination. Now some federal scientists are arguing that these women should actually increase their fish consumption.

The current official advice from the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency is that pregnant and nursing women and young children can safely eat up to 12 ounces - roughly two servings - of most fish a week, but should limit their intake of albacore tuna to 6 ounces a week and avoid entirely four species of fish containing high levels of mercury. Now the two agencies are at loggerheads over the two-serving limit.

The FDA has circulated a draft report suggesting that the vast majority of fetuses and infants would actually benefit if their mothers ate more than two servings of fish a week because fish contain highly beneficial nutrients that aid in brain development. The FDA's scientists argue that those benefits outweigh any potential harm.

Those contentions are sharply disputed by specialists at the EPA who charged that the report had "serious scientific flaws." That is a strong indictment that must be answered before the public can place any confidence in the FDA's judgment.

Meanwhile, experts caution that consumers should choose from fish that are low in mercury, such as shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock and catfish. The report is still undergoing revision at the FDA, which pledges to publish it for comment before deciding how to proceed. only then will a wide array of experts be able to tell if the final recommendations make sense or are dangerously flawed.