SECTION: VIEWPOINTS, Pg. 3H

LENGTH: 374 words

HEADLINE: DON'T LIMIT EPA'S POWER ON PESTICIDES

BODY:


The Environmental Protection Agency recently announced an agreement with manufacturers that will reduce exposures and eliminate home use of the insecticide chlorpyrifos (Dursban). This agreement was made possible by the regulatory authority given to the EPA by the Food Quality and Protection Act of 1996.

This act requires that the EPA must conclude with "reasonable certainty that no harm will come from aggregate exposure," meaning that all exposures from our diets and other sources must be considered. Pesticide tolerances must account for the special sensitivity of infants and children and include other health effects, particularly those that may affect reproduction.

According to the EPA, we use 4.5 billion pounds of pesticides each year. This includes about 77 million pounds of organophosphate insecticides, the class of pesticides that includes chlorpyrifos and nerve gases, some of the deadliest chemicals known.

A 1993 report by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that pesticide toxicity is more common than believed. Toxic effects range from complete paralysis and death by asphyxiation to chronic nerve injury. More recent data suggest strongly that pesticide exposure may lead to the development of Parkinson's Disease.

Although the Food Quality and Protection Act was passed unanimously by Congress, it is under assault. This challenge comes in the form of the Regulatory Openness and Fairness Act of 1999, which is now making its way through congressional committees. This bill may be attached to the EPA appropriation and thereby become law without debate.

The phrase "fairness and openness" is a smoke screen designed to conceal the real purpose of the act. This industry-authored bill will create a blizzard of paperwork and barriers designed to make it nearly impossible for the EPA to establish badly needed health-based pesticide tolerances.
 
Neither of New York's senators support this legislation. But sadly, four of the area's congressmen -- Amo Houghton, John LaFalce, Jack Quinn and Tom Reynolds -- are co-sponsors. We must defend ourselves from this attack on our health and demand fairness in the face of the real threats posed by pesticides. ALAN H. LOCKWOOD, M.D.

Buffalo

LOAD-DATE: June 27, 2000