That is changing now as companies develop markets for products they expect to satisfy both nutritionists and consumers. Imagine peeled baby carrots instead of candy, or crispy baked pita bread in place of those chips.

Healthy products, relegated to a few trays or maybe a row or two, if they were sold at all, are starting to take over entire machines. These offerings account for a small but growing share of the $3.3 billion business.

Companies hope to attract adults who have avoided vending machines because of the diet-busting temptations. Another focus is on schools, where parents and administrators would prefer that students much on raisins rather than powdered doughnuts.

A vending machine without candy bars and regular soda is a big step, said Mike Kiser, chief executive officer of Compass Vending Services, an industry leader based in Charlotte, N.C. "We've never had the courage to take out our best sellers," he said.

Compass is experimenting with a bank of food and drink machines lined up behind a plastic facade to look like a single unit. Products include granola bars, PowerBars, salads, energy drinks - https://www.rewards-insiders.marriott.com/search.jspa?q=energy%20drinks and smoothies.

Sodexho Vending reserves nine of a typical machine's 45 trays for healthy items, said Tom Smith, senior vice president of the company, based in Gaithersburg, Md. Examples are nuts and dried fruits, and low-sodium chips.

As the companies see it, that offers a little something for all the different needs.

Busy workers may want to eat healthy if they are getting something from the machine because they are too busy for lunch, said Bill Mitchell, Sodexho Vending's director of program development - http://www.deer-digest.com/?s=program%20development .

Of course, there still is a place for candy. People still will want "a small indulgence" as a reward, he said.

Stonyfield Farm, an organic foods company in Londonderry, N.H., has 15 vending machines in California, Rhode Island and 김제출장안마 - https://www.opmassage.com/21-gimjee Massachusetts, and has applications from schools in 36 states, spokeswoman Cathleen Toomey said.

To help fill the machines, the company rounded up products from a number of organic vendors. She said the company followed guidelines from a children's nutrition group, Kids First, to make sure the offerings were healthy.

The machines offer baked pita chips instead of potato chips, and yogurt drinks instead of soda, Toomey said. Students tested the products, and the company founder is sure "you can put a Coke machine alongside our machine and we will survive," she said.

School districts increasingly are looking for healthier snacks. In some cases, they are being pushed by state law that restricts what students can get from the vending machines. In other areas, healthier choices could be district policy.

Schools in Hopkins, Minn., will switch this school year to treats such as yogurt and carrot sticks, said Bertrand Weber, director of operations for the St. Paul-Minneapolis-area district's food service program.

There also will be standard snacks, but with a healthy edge - for instance, no trans fats, he said. Health experts say this kind of fat can clog arteries.

Weber said students already watch what they eat. Hopkins High School's Health Nut Cafe, which specializes natural and organic meals, accounts for half of the lunch business, he said.

By Ira Dreyfuss

MALMO, Sweden Denmark's Emmelie de Forest has won this year's Eurovision Song Contest with her ethno-inspired flute and drum tune "Only Teardrops," despite tough competition from spectacular stage shows by performers from Azerbaijan and Ukraine.

Juries and television viewers across Europe awarded the barefoot, hippie-chic 20-year-old for the catchy love song that is driven by her deep, Shakira-like voice - http://photo.net/gallery/tag-search/search?query_string=Shakira-like%20v... . She received a total of 281 points in the glitzy music battle, which also featured a bizarre opera pop number from Romania, the comeback of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" star Bonnie Tyler and an Armenian rock song written by the guitarist of Black Sabbath.

"It was overwhelming and I could really feel the fans and the audience and the people in the arena," de Forest told reporters after the winners were announced early Sunday.

"Of course I believed in the song and I thought we had a great song, but that's the exciting thing with Eurovision, you never know what's going to happen," she added.

De Forest grew up in northern Denmark and has been singing since she was 14, touring around Denmark with the Scottish musician Fraser Neill. She said it is important to be persistent to succeed as a young musician.

"I just called and emailed like a lot of festivals, music places and a lot of times I got no, but you just have to believe in yourself and keep trying, trying, trying — be outgoing and talk to new people, just call them and don't be afraid," she said.

De Forest was followed by second-place winner Farid Mammadov of Azerbaijan, who got 234 points for the song "Hold Me," which he performed on top of a glass cubicle containing a male dancer. The Ukraine's Zlata Ognevich and her song "Gravity" finished third with 214 points.

Ognevich was carried onstage in Saturday night's finals by the tallest man in the U.S. — Ukrainian-born Igor Vovkovinskiy. Vovkovinskiy — who stands 7 feet, 8 inches (234 centimeters) — wobbled onstage in a fur and feathers, placing the fairy-like Ognevich on a rock where she stood for the rest of the performance.

The televised extravaganza, with an audience of 125 million worldwide, is now in its 58th year. Once again without fail, it produced a mix of bubble-gum pop songs, somber ballads, bagpipes, accordions and bizarrely kitsch musical productions.

In an opening video, soccer great Zlatan Ibrahimovic welcomed the viewers to the competition in his hometown Malmo, in southern Sweden. The Nordic country hosted the event because its contestant Loreen won last year with "Euphoria."

This year's event also saw the return to the international stage of two seasoned European stars. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" singer Bonnie Tyler represented Britain with the sleepy love ballad "Believe In Me," while Anouk, whose song "Nobody's Wife" was a big hit in Europe in the 1990s, performed the song "Birds" for The Netherlands. Tyler ended in 19th place, while Anouk finished in the 9th spot.

Finland's Krista Siegfrid provided this year's controversy, ending her bouncy pop number "Marry Me" with a girl-on-girl kiss that some interpreted as a stance promoting gay marriage. While it did not raise eyebrows in most parts of Western Europe — where Eurovision has long been a bastion of gay culture — the act jarred sensitivities in parts of eastern and southern Europe. Her cheesy tune didn't win the hearts of Europeans, however, and she ended up third to last with only 13 points.

Romanian opera singer Cezar gave one of the more remarkable performances. He resembled a Dracula reborn as a high-pitched vocalist, attempting a crossover opera pop number with techno beats and pyrotechnics that landed him in 13th place. Three muscular male dancers in red body paint were delivered out of a large red cape.

Two semifinals this week had whittled down the contestants from 40 to 26. The voting is shared equally between professional juries in all participating countries and viewers using their telephones to pick their favorites.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who watched the competition in Malmo Saturday, called it a unique event that unites Europe.

"We see the old Yugoslavia, now independent states, after a decade of war they always vote for each other in Eurovision, " Bildt told The Associated Press. "That I think is fun."

Having won five times, most famously with ABBA's Waterloo in 1974, Sweden is a veteran of Eurovision. It took the opportunity on Saturday to showcase some of its big music acts. At the opening of the competition, 군포출장마사지 - https://www.popanma.com/%ea%b5%b0%ed%8f%ac%ec%b6%9c%ec%9e%a5%ec%83%b5%cf... contestants marched into the stadium with flags, Olympics-style, accompanied by a choir singing a song especially composed by Swedish super DJ Avicii and ABBA members Bjorn Ulveaus and Benny Andersson. While contestants waited for the votes to come through, Swedish singer Sarah Dawn Finer sang ABBA's hit tune "The Winner Takes It All."

Yet the event — with a price tag of around 153.5 million Swedish kronor ($23 million) — didn't measure up to last year's lavish competition hosted by oil-rich Azerbaijan in its capital, Baku.

"We have attempted to host Eurovision with less money to show that it is possible to do this without it being too painful for the host country," said Jan-Erik Westman, a spokesman for host broadcaster SVT.

The festive atmosphere was visible throughout the city of Malmo on Saturday, where residents and visitors blended on the sunny streets waving the flags of their favorite countries.

LOS ANGELES — Terry Crews has openly spoken about his allegations of sexual assault - http://www.exeideas.com/?s=sexual%20assault against William Morris Endeavor (WME) executive Adam Venit, and now he's taking things a step further. The actor alleges talent agents at William Morris Endeavor "knowingly permitted and encouraged to engage in sexually predatory conduct" in a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the agency and Venit.

Crews' complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court states the actor and former NFL player was subjected to sexual assault, sexual harassment, gender violence and emotional distress during and after a Feb. 2016 incident in which he says he was repeatedly groped by a talent executive.

The lawsuit recounts Crews' allegations that agent Adam Venit groped him at the Hollywood party last year and details the actor's efforts to see Venit disciplined after the incident. Crews complained about Venit to agency chairman Ari Emanuel, and the two men have retaliated against him for going public with his allegations, the lawsuit states.

More in Sexual misconduct

The lawsuit contends the agency knew Venit was predatory and condoned his behavior by failing to punish him for it.

Venit and 속초출장마사지 - https://www.anmaweb.com/%ec%86%8d%ec%b4%88%ec%98%a4%ed%94%bc%ea%b1%b8%e2... William Morris Endeavor did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Crews added his name to the list of Hollywood's sexual harassment victims in October when he revealed - http://www.51ideas.com/?s=revealed that he was groped by a high-level talent agent at an industry event. Crews discussed the incident and named Venit as his attacker on "Good Morning America" last month.

At the time, the actor told co-host Michael Strahan that in February 2016, Venit, the longtime head of WME's motion picture group, groped his genitals at an event honoring Adam Sandler. 

Crews said he felt "free" after naming Venit. He compared going public to being a released prisoner of war and he added, "I have totally said, 'I will not be shamed.' I will not be shamed. I did nothing wrong."

He also explained that this year, he talked to Emmanuel and urged him to blacklist Venit. 

"I brought out a letter that he wrote in 2011 which demanded that Mel Gibson be blacklisted from Hollywood for anti-Semitic [comments]," he said. "I took that letter, crossed out Mel Gibson, put Adam Venit, crossed out anti-Semitic remarks and put sexual assault. I said, 'Read that letter. Now you know what you got to do.' He said, 'It's different.'"

Crews claims in his lawsuit that Venit, Emanuel and other agency executives have since tried to silence him and hurt his career.

"Crews had no choice by to bring this action to protect himself and to stand up for all victims of sexual predators," the suit says. "Through this case, Crews seeks to send a message to all abusers and sexual predators, that, no matter how powerful you are, you can be held accountable for your reprehensible misconduct and so will the companies that cover up your disgusting misdeeds."

Alex started selling lemonade four years ago with one stand and raised $2,000 in a single day. Each year brought more stands, manned by friends and volunteers.

The take so far: more than $200,000, including $15,000 brought in last year by the stand at the Scotts' suburban Philadelphia.

"She's determined about anything that's important to her, whether it's what kind of ice cream she's eating or raising money," said Alex's mother, Liz Scott - http://www.encyclopedia.com/searchresults.aspx?q=Liz%20Scott . "I think (the stand) does keep her going sometimes."

This year, 카지노사이트 - http://shoolinbusiness.com/ on Saturday, all 50 states will have "Alex's Lemonade Stands" open for business. Alex's father, Jay Scott, estimates that as many as 1,000 stands will be pouring the icy cold concoction.

"I think it just shows, you read a lot of bad stuff in the news, it shows how good people really are," Jay Scott said.

Two days before her first birthday, Alex was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of cancer that originates in certain nerve cells. The survival rate for high-risk neuroblastoma, which Alex has, is just 40 percent.

"Alex would have died many years ago if it wasn't for newer experimental therapies, and I think that's something she and her parents recognize," said Dr. John Maris, who has directed Alex's care at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Neuroblastoma is diagnosed in about 700 U.S. children every year.

Though excited about Saturday, Alex has been drained by the chemotherapy and radiation being used to treat a new attack of tumors, her mother said. After seven years of treatment, her cancer is considered incurable.

"She's tired. She's exhausted," Liz Scott said. "Her future has always been uncertain, but I don't think any of us — me, my husband, her doctor — has felt this pessimistic before.

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Because of her frail condition, her parents and doctor have encouraged Alex to cut back on her fund-raising activities. But she insisted on appearing on a television morning show last Friday to publicize the fifth annual "Alex's Lemonade Stand" day

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After last year's stand, the Scotts put out a call over the Internet for help in every state. Advertising fliers were posted on Alex's Web site, and the Scotts sent out dozens of coupons for free lemonade mix

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Alex has given $150,000 to her Philadelphia hospital. Thousands more have gone for research in Connecticut, Michigan, Texas and California. This year's take will also go for research, but the family hasn't decided yet where

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"Alex will have a big say in that," Liz Scott said. "She always does.

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Some days Alex feels good, like earlier this week when she saw the new Harry Potter movie. Other days she doesn't. Every day she lives knowing many of her friends have died of neuroblastoma

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Her mom calls Alex "the bravest person I know," and she holds out hope her daughter can overcome her disease

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"I'm obviously very proud of her, but it's more than that," Liz Scott said. "I feel privileged to be her mom. I admire her."

An Environmental Protection Agency official responded that the study misconstrued EPA data and created no reason for the government to change its recommendations on eating wild freshwater fish. An official of a commercial fish trade group said the study examined data on recreational fishing, not farm-raised freshwater fish found in supermarkets.

About 2,500 fish collected from 260 bodies of water from 1999 to 2001 showed the presence of mercury, the report said. The toxic metal can cause neurological and developmental problems, particularly in young children.

The report was prepared for Clear the Air, a joint campaign of the Clean Air Task Force, the National Environmental Trust and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. The study recommended more restrictions on mercury emissions - http://www.guardian.co.uk/search?q=mercury%20emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Seventy-six percent of the fish samples exceeded EPA's mercury exposure limit for children of average weight under the age of three, the report said. And 55 percent contained mercury that exceeded the limit for women of average weight, it said. The report assumed that people in both groups ate fish twice a week.

The high levels of mercury raise the risks of neurological problems in young children or in fetuses of women who ate the fish, 카지노사이트 - http://pgneetindia.com/ said Emily Figdor, a clean air advocate at U.S. PIRG and the study's author. She could not say how many more such cases could be expected.

Although the EPA agrees that mercury exposure is a serious public health issue, the Clear the Air study misused EPA's exposure limits, said EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman.

The advocacy group, in saying the mercury exceeded safe levels, applied standards the EPA set very low to be on the conservative and safe side of any possible errors, Bergman said. The study also based its estimates on material not from EPA, taking its consumption estimates from the American Heart Association's recommendation that people ought to eat two fish meals a week, she said.

The report does not create a reason for the EPA and the Food and Drug Administration to change the guidance the agencies gave in March on eating wild fish, Bergman said. The agencies said people should check with state or local authorities to learn the safety of the fish. If no such advice is available, people should eat no more than one six-ounce portion a week and should eat no other fish, they said.

Consumers who buy their freshwater fish at markets should not be alarmed about the study, which looked at sources of recreationally caught fish, said Bob Collette, vice president for science and technology at the National Fisheries Institute, a fish industry trade group.

Most freshwater fish that people eat is raised on farms and is not a danger, Collette said.

The report said reducing mercury emissions from power plants is crucial to reducing unsafe levels of mercury in the fish. It criticized the Bush administration as planning to "delay even modest reductions in mercury from power plants until after 2025."

The EPA's Bergman said the administration had taken a big step forward by deciding to regulate the emissions, but she said technology needed for plants to make the cuts had not yet proved itself. U.S. PIRG's Figdor disputed that, and said some states were imposing earlier deadlines on emissions control than the EPA has planned.

Although the study found that psychotherapy plus Prozac works better than either method alone at treating depression in adolescents, including reducing suicidal thoughts, 양양출장안마 - https://www.opanma.com/28-yangyang1 the study does not resolve ongoing questions about potential links between some antidepressants and suicidal thoughts and behavior in children.

That's because patients on Prozac had more suicidal tendencies during the 12-week study than any other group: those on Prozac plus psychotherapy, those on psychotherapy - http://search.usa.gov/search?affiliate=usagov&query=psychotherapy alone, and those on dummy pills - http://www.houzz.com/?search=dummy%20pills alone.

There were no suicides and few suicide attempts during the study.

Study co-author John Curry of Duke University said too few patients exhibited suicidal tendencies - 24 out of 439 - to determine whether there truly are differences among the treatments studied.

"The first thing that needs to be clear is that the overall rates are low," and that combining Prozac with talk therapy seems to mitigate any suicidal risks, Curry said.

Overall, 71 percent of patients on the combined treatment had scores showing substantial improvement on a depression rating scale. The combined treatment involved Prozac plus a form of psychotherapy called cognitive behavioral therapy, which teaches problem-solving skills and ways to refocus negative thoughts and behaviors.

By contrast, significant improvement was seen in 61 percent of Prozac-only adolescents, 43 percent of behavior therapy-only patients and 35 percent of patients on dummy pills.

The study is the first phase of ongoing research led by Dr. John March, Duke's chief of child and adolescent psychiatry. The results appear in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study makes "a very important contribution" by showing that there is effective treatment, said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, which funded the study.

"I wouldn't in any way downplay the adverse events," Insel said. But "just because a few kids develop this doesn't mean that you don't treat anybody."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating the suicide concerns and earlier this year asked makers of 10 drugs including Prozac to add or strengthen suicide-related warnings on their labels.

While March's study was publicly funded, he and several co-authors have received grants and served on speakers' bureaus for anti-depressant manufacturers. Prozac maker Eli Lilly and Co. provided the drug and dummy pills but had no role in the study design or data analysis.

The study involved 439 depressed patients aged 12 to 17 assigned to one of four treatments for 12 weeks. During that time, suicidal tendencies were seen in nine Prozac patients, six in the Prozac plus behavior therapy group, five in the behavior therapy-only group and four on dummy pills.

The study excluded adolescents at high risk for suicide based on recent suicidal behavior or pervasive suicidal thoughts.

That's a noteworthy omission since "those are a lot of the kids who we see," said Dr. David Fassler, a Burlington, Vt., psychiatrist who treats adolescents.

Also, the study doesn't address whether the combined approach worked because of the specific kind of talk therapy involved, or whether other forms of psychotherapy would work as well or better, Fassler said.

Still, he said the study should be "reassuring for physicians and parents."

By Lindsey Tanner

The company said it will hold up shipment of about 50 million shots — about half the supply U.S. health officials had hoped to have on hand this year — while it investigates what went wrong and 파주출장안마 - https://www.softanma.com/25-paju determines whether the vaccine is safe to use.

U.S. health officials said some people may not get flu shots when they want this year, but that they were hopeful Chiron's - http://edublogs.org/?s=hopeful%20Chiron%27s production problems are only temporary. Demand typically peaks in October and November.

"Based on what we know, we don't expect a major delay and we believe we can effectively vaccinate the population at risk," CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding said. "We are in daily contact with Chiron and we will be tracking this along with the Food and Drug Administration."

Flu kills 36,000 people and hospitalizes another 114,000 in an average year, primarily the elderly, according to the CDC.

Last year's flu season got off to an unusually early and harsh start, which raised fears and caused demand for vaccines to outstrip supply for the first time.

Health officials expect a record number of people to request vaccinations this year owing to the publicity generated by last year's season and the subsequent shortage. The CDC ordered 100 million doses to be made for this season, about 17 million more doses than last year.

Chiron supplies about half the nation's flu vaccine. Aventis Pasteur supplies most of the rest.

Chiron officials Thursday said the company now hopes to ship between 46 million and 48 million doses by early October, about a month later than usual.

"There's no product that is going to go into the arms of the American public that will not have been deemed to have met the highest standards of safety," Chiron chief executive Howard - https://www.biggerpockets.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&term=executive%20Howard Pien said.

He said about 1 million doses have already been shipped, but no vaccines have yet reached the public.

Emeryville-based Chiron would not give details on the nature of the contamination, which Pien said was found in a small number of batches at the company's factory in Liverpool, England.

Last year, the company made 38 million shots, accounting for about $230 million in revenue.

Because of the production problems, Chiron also warned that its earnings will meet the "low end" of a forecast range of $1.50 to $1.60. The company made the announcement after the stock markets closed. In after hours trading, the company's stock plunged nearly 7 percent, or $3.24.

(c)MMIV, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Now his son, Luis Angel Valdivia, and union representatives are appealing to companies to take the commonsense measures that could have saved his life.

"There isn't much I can do now, but I don't want other workers to go through what I'm going through now," said Valdivia, who watched his 53-year-old father faint among the grapevines in a field outside Bakersfield, and die in his car last Wednesday, as he sped toward the hospital seeking medical help.

California's grape harvest happens in the middle of summer, when temperatures in the state's fertile Central Valley often soar past 100, and lead to frequent complaints of dizziness and nausea among workers- the symptoms of heat stroke, said Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers.

"There is not a whole lot we can do, except put pressure on the growers to give them what they need to take care of their bodies," said Rodriguez. "They just need to use common sense. If it's 100 degrees out, workers need more breaks, and more water, than the minimum required."

The state's Division of Occupational Health and Safety requires employers to give workers two 10-minute breaks in one day, plus a half-hour lunch. Cool water should also be provided. Workers confirmed there was enough water for them last Wednesday.

But there are no additional safety measures required — longer breaks, shade, salt tablets — to help workers stay hydrated when the heat reaches into the 90s and past 100, said Susan Gard, a spokeswoman for the state occupational safety program

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Employers are only required to report cases of heat stroke or other illnesses if the worker requires more than first-aid care, Gard said

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"Unfortunately, we only hear about it when it becomes a tragedy, if there is a 24-hour hospitalization or a death," she said

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The state database with numbers of heat stroke victims was not immediately accessible, Gard said

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The agency targets agriculture for additional enforcement because it recognizes the industry is dangerous, Gard said. It publishes an employers' guide on agricultural safety that mentions heat stroke as a cause for concern, and holds farm worker forums to educate them on their rights on the job, she said

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When temperatures soar and the men and women who pick produce work more than 10 hours a day to keep up with the season's peak workload, the minimum might not be enough, said Keith Jilmetti, a workers' compensation lawyer who is helping the family

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"The California labor code says it's the duty of employers to provide a safe and healthful work environment," said Jilmetti. "If they have to go above the minimum (to provide for a safe working environment) so be it.

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The Giumarra Companies, which employed the Valdivias, started when the family patriarch, Joe Giumarra, 카지노사이트 - https://www.veteransnetwork.net/ set up a small fruit stand in downtown - https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=downtown Los Angeles the early 1900s. What began as an immigrant family's small business has grown to a multinational conglomerate that works with growers in California and around the world, from Chile and Mexico to New Zealand and China

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"We have a great relationship with our people, and they come back year after year," the company's president, Joe Giumarra, said Monday. "We did the best we could to respond adequately.

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He said heat stroke had not yet been determined as the cause of death in Valdivia's case, and autopsy results were expected in four to six weeks

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The foreman supervising the field where the father and son had been working initially called for medical help, but then canceled the call when the older worker regained consciousness, although he was never able to talk or walk on his own, his son said

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Giumarra said he knew the foreman called 911, but he said he's not sure what happened after that

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With medical help, his father might have survived, Valdivia said

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"I gave him the only thing I had — water," he said, adding that his father had only been in the United States for one mont

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Workers' compensation insurance will cover the cost of sending Asuncion Valdivia's body back to Jalisco, where he has three other sons in the town of San Juan de los Lagos. But Luis Angel Valdivia, the 21-year-old son who was working alongside his father, will have to stay here. His mother died three years ag

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"I can't afford to go back," he said. "This is terrible, but I have to stay here and work. I have to help the family

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By Juliana Barbassa

An Environmental Protection Agency official responded that the study misconstrued EPA data and created no reason for the government to change its recommendations on eating wild freshwater fish - http://de.bab.la/woerterbuch/englisch-deutsch/freshwater%20fish . An official of a commercial fish trade group said the study examined data on recreational fishing, not farm-raised freshwater fish found in supermarkets.

About 2,500 fish collected from 260 bodies of water from 1999 to 2001 showed the presence of mercury, the report said. The toxic metal can cause neurological and developmental problems, particularly in young children.

The report was prepared for Clear the Air, a joint campaign of the Clean Air Task - http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/search/Air%20Task Force, 카지노사이트 - http://sunmaster.my/ the National Environmental Trust and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. The study recommended more restrictions on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Seventy-six percent of the fish samples exceeded EPA's mercury exposure limit for children of average weight under the age of three, the report said. And 55 percent contained mercury that exceeded the limit for women of average weight, it said. The report assumed that people in both groups ate fish twice a week.

The high levels of mercury raise the risks of neurological problems in young children or in fetuses of women who ate the fish, said Emily Figdor, a clean air advocate at U.S. PIRG and the study's author. She could not say how many more such cases could be expected.

Although the EPA agrees that mercury exposure is a serious public health issue, the Clear the Air study misused EPA's exposure limits, said EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman.

The advocacy group, in saying the mercury exceeded safe levels, applied standards the EPA set very low to be on the conservative and safe side of any possible errors, Bergman said. The study also based its estimates on material not from EPA, taking its consumption estimates from the American Heart Association's recommendation that people ought to eat two fish meals a week, she said.

The report does not create a reason for the EPA and the Food and Drug Administration to change the guidance the agencies gave in March on eating wild fish, Bergman said. The agencies said people should check with state or local authorities to learn the safety of the fish. If no such advice is available, people should eat no more than one six-ounce portion a week and should eat no other fish, they said.

Consumers who buy their freshwater fish at markets should not be alarmed about the study, which looked at sources of recreationally caught fish, said Bob Collette, vice president for science and technology at the National Fisheries Institute, a fish industry trade group.

Most freshwater fish that people eat is raised on farms and is not a danger, Collette said.

The report said reducing mercury emissions from power plants is crucial to reducing unsafe levels of mercury in the fish. It criticized the Bush administration as planning to "delay even modest reductions in mercury from power plants until after 2025."

The EPA's Bergman said the administration had taken a big step forward by deciding to regulate the emissions, but she said technology needed for plants to make the cuts had not yet proved itself. U.S. PIRG's Figdor disputed that, and said some states were imposing earlier deadlines on emissions control than the EPA has planned.