The House Education and Labor Committee passed a bill today that included an amendment sponsored by Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) that will reduce the consumption by pregnant women and children of high-mercury fish.

The amendment was included in H.R. 5504, the Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act and requires the Department of Agriculture, in consultation with the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, to issue scientific guidance that will be provided to administrators of the child nutrition programs and the Women, Infants and Children program (WIC). This information will help schools and WIC programs avoid fish that is high in mercury in favor of healthier fish.

"As long as the programs designed to improve the health of the most vulnerable children, are feeding them food that is high in mercury, taxpayers are subsidizing the slow poisoning of their brains at the exact time their brains and cognitive functions are developing the fastest. There is no reason for the government to help kids grow up healthy with one hand while impairing them with the other," said Kucinich.

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