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A study by an environmental research organization pointed out that federal guidelines on what types of fish the pregnant should eat could lead them to exposure to mercury.

The nonprofit Environmental Working Group said that those guidelines should be made more specific as those pregnant may end up to eating too much of the wrong kind of fish.

Draft recommendations from both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency in 2014 identified lower mercury fish as salmon, shrimp, pollock, tuna (light canned), tilapia, catfish and cod as the right kind of fish for those pregnant or nursing.

It suggests avoiding tilefish, shark, swordfish and king mackerel. The current and draft guidelines advise pregnant women and women who are breast-feeding to limit eating white (albacore) tuna to 6 ounces a week.

The EWG tested hair samples from 254 women of childbearing age who ate as much or slightly more fish than recommended by the government. It  found that 29% of women had more mercury in their bodies than the EPA safety levels, which is one part per million.

EWG has advocated for a stricter mercury limit of 0.58 ppm.

 Dr. Philippe Grandjean, adjunct professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who tested and analyzed hair samples for EWG's study, noted that the limit of 1 ppm was calculated in 2000 and the lower recommendation is based on updated research from 2007.

Furthermore, while the study participants ate more than twice as much fish as the average American, almost 60% still didn't receive the amount of omega-3s recommended for pregnancy.

The FDA and EPA are in the process of revising the advice on this issue. The agencies are currently taking public comments about the topic.

Mercury exposure can alter the developing brain and nervous system of the unborn baby and cause lifelong deficits in learning, memory and reaction times. Mercury also has toxic effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, and on lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes.