Women's Mercury Levels Tied to Region, Income

American women are afflicted by high Mercury levels depending on where they live and how much they earn, a new study says. Northeasterners are worst off, with a 20% chance of high mercury, 10 points higher than the national rate. Midwesterners eat less seafood and had lower levels overall, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Women with bigger salaries had higher levels, likely because they can afford pricey fish that is more contaminated. Yet experts hailed the findings as a sign that consumer campaigns have steered more women away from high-risk seafood. "Women are a lot smarter than they have assumed," the study's main author said. "They're eating fish, but they're choosing more wisely." (More mercury stories.)