To the editor:

I sincerely hope the May 11 installment of the comic "Baby Blues" was supposed to be a parody. Needless scaremongering over mercury in fish can frighten parents into cutting this brain food out of their kids' diets.

As with many food scares, the current fish fracas will eventually die down, at which point "Baby Blues" creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott may once again declare fish to be healthy. But in the meantime, scaring the public for no good reason shouldn't be a cartoonist's job, or even that of the daily newspaper.

JOHN BERRY, Research Analyst, Center for Consumer Freedom, Washington, D.C.