Bush administration disputes California on mercury warnings

Monday, Aug. 22, 2005 | 9:12 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- California's attorney general on Friday accused the federal government of trying to kill a state lawsuit demanding canned tuna companies place mercury warning notices on their products.

"The federal government has no authority to prevent California, or any state, from requiring warnings that provide truthful, important information to consumers," said Tom Dresslar, spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

A year ago, Lockyer sued the nation's three largest canned tuna companies to enforce Proposition 65, California's 1986 law requiring businesses to provide "clear and reasonable" warnings when they expose consumers to known reproductive toxins, such as mercury.

The companies are Bumble Bee Seafoods; Tri-Union Seafoods, which makes Chicken of the Sea brand tuna; and Del Monte, maker of Starkist.

But in an Aug. 12 letter, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Lester Crawford said federal law pre-empts California's warning requirement.

General warning labels can overexpose consumers to warnings, or scare the wrong audience off of food they should be eating, the letter said.

Such warnings "frustrate the carefully considered federal approach to advising consumers of both the benefits and possible risks of eating fish and shellfish," Crawford's letter said.

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