They don't fully understand levels of mercury in fish and they're trying to provide advice to people based on shoddy science.

The widespread contamination of fish with mercury has given its reputation as 'brain food' a new and disturbing connotation. Mercury is toxic to the developing fetal brain, and exposure in the womb can cause learning deficiencies and delay mental development in children.

Most people would prefer there are no known human carcinogens in what they drink.

Most people would prefer there are no known human carcinogens in what they drink. This is a case where industry agreed to get it out of the products, and all the evidence says they didn't.

So in many communities, the water that comes out of the tap could be contaminated with scores of chemicals. People shouldn't be alarmed, but they should be concerned. Our system of public health protections isn't working in this case.

Mercury is sometimes naturally occurring in the state, it is not always connected to mining tailings. We are trying to identify where it is and where it is not, so the testing is a multi-year project.