Mercury advisories: Information, education, and fish consumption

Abstract

This paper examines responses to a national FDA advisory that urged at-risk individuals to limit store-bought fish consumption due to the dangers of methyl-mercury. We investigate consumer response using both parametric and nonparametric methods. Some targeted consumers significantly reduced canned fish purchases as a result of the advisory, suggesting that information-based policies can achieve the issuing agency's goals. Education and newspaper readership were important determinants of response, suggesting that information acquisition and assimilation are key factors for risk avoidance. While some groups reduced consumption as a result of the advisory, we do not find a response among the relatively large group of at-risk households which met neither the education nor readership criteria. The advisory also had unintended spillover effects; some consumers not considered at-risk reduced consumption in response to the advisory.

Can household consumers save the wild fish? Lessons from a sustainable seafood advisory

“…Shimshack et al's [45] study, the most educated consumers significantly reduced their fish consumption. However, the least educated group of consumers were not responsive to the advisory [45].…”

“…On average, these customers at the Retailer in this study have more years of education, higher income levels, and a higher probability of belonging to either the Democratic or Green parties than the national average. Shimshack et al [45] identified education as a key factor determining the responsiveness of consumers to a United States Food and Drug Administration advisory about risks of methyl-mercury poisoning from store-bought fish. In that study, Shimshack et al viewed education as a proxy for a person's ability to obtain and assimilate knowledge; they subsequently evaluated the difference in impact between readers and non-readers.…”

Mercury advisories and household health trade-offs

“…Shimshack, Ward, and Beatty (2007) reported the same advisory resulted in a 21.8 percent net drop in canned fish expenditures among households with young children.…”

“…Shimshack et al (2007) analyzed the determinants of household responses to the advisory using repeated cross-sections of Consumer Expenditure Survey purchase data for aggregate canned fish and other commodities. Potential determinants included health consciousness (proxied by vegetable and tobacco purchases), information access (proxied by newspaper purchases), and demographics such as education.…”

Consumer and Market Responses to Mad Cow Disease

“…Recently, Shimshack, Ward, and Beatty (2007) use a reduced form approach to evaluate the effect of government warnings about mercury on fish consumption in the United States using the CES, and find that responses vary greatly by socioeconomic characteristics of consumers. We follow their approach and rely on a reduced form to assess heterogeneous responses to the first reported discovery of an infected mad cow by matching each grocery store with the socioeconomic characteristics of the zip code in which it is located.…”