WASHINGTON - October 17 - Today, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies released a new study on the benefits of eating seafood. The following is a statement released by Gerald Leape, vice president of the Marine Conservation Program for the National Environmental Trust regarding the study:

"Today's long-expected report on seafood choices did a decent job of detailing the benefits, but did a lousy job of explaining the risks. Consumers had hoped that this study would clarify the confusion at the seafood counter, but many will still be left scratching their heads.

"The study hyped up the benefits of Omega 3s, but paid mere lip service to the threat of harmful contaminants found in both wild and farmed fish. There's growing evidence that increased levels of fire retardants and PCBs found in fish can cause severe developmental and neurological problems for young children and those on the way. Despite this, the report authors encourage the American public to eat more fish.

"The report purposely ignored the environmental impacts on wild and farmed fish resulting from increased consumption of seafood. This is rather ironic since the federal agency that manages our nation's marine fisheries sponsored this study."

The National Environmental Trust today hosted an 11:30 a.m. EST press conference call in response to this study. An audio recording is available at http://www.net.org.

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