Ruder Finn Lands Heavy Metal PR Job

by Bob Burton — January 10, 2006 - 9:37pm

The PR firm Ruder Finn has landed an account with the U.S. Tuna Foundation to counter public concerns about mercury in canned tuna. The director of media relations at Ruder Finn, Nancy Glick, told PR Week that the foundation was working "aggressively" to defuse the issue and is working with public officials "who feel very strongly that we have to stop scaring the public." Following a three-part series in the Chicago Tribune in December, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it would investigate the issue. Since March 2004, the Turtle Island Restoration Network have posted an online mercury in seafood calculator and lobbied for more stringent FDA testing. PR Week reports, "Ruder Finn is also working with the University of Maryland (UM) to promote realmercuryfacts.org, which responds to consumer confusion about mercury."