Mercury advisories: Information, education, and fish consumption

Shimshack, Jay P. and Ward, Michael B. and Beatty, Timothy K.M. (2007): Mercury advisories: Information, education, and fish consumption. Published in: Journal of Environmental Economics and Management , Vol. 53, No. 2 (March 2007): pp. 158-179.

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.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: mercury; health information; health advisory; environmental health; fish consumption; children’s health; environmental risk; pollution
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D12 - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I18 - Government Policy ; Regulation ; Public Health; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q53 - Air Pollution ; Water Pollution ; Noise ; Hazardous Waste ; Solid Waste ; Recycling

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