Will WIC can tuna?A number of health advocacy The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. groups have urged the USDA USDA, n.pr See United States Department of Agriculture. to remove canned tuna from its Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, also known as WIC WIC - WAN Interface Card , saying the inclusion of tuna exposes breastfeeding mothers and their nursing infants to methylmercury when safer fish options exist. Though the agency plans to end an allowance for canned albacore albacore: see tuna. albacore Large oceanic tuna (Thunnus alalunga) that is noted for its fine flesh. The streamlined bodies of these voracious predators are adapted to fast and continuous swimming. tuna under the program, it may still offer light tuna, which critics say also can contain enough mercury to cause health effects. A 2005 Institute of Medicine review of the WIC program recommends offering canned salmon, which has far less mercury than tuna and costs only about 2cents more per ounce. Over 250,000 women exclusively breastfeed breast·feed or breast-feed v. breast-fed , breast-feed·ing, breast-feeds v.tr. To feed (a baby) mother's milk from the breast; suckle. v.intr. To breastfeed a baby. as part of WIC, and canned tuna is offered as an incentive to those mothers who make this commitment. More than 8 million low-income mothers and their children receive WIC assistance each month. A final decision on tuna's inclusion is expected in September 2007. |
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