Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company
The New
York Times
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February 19, 1999, Friday, Late Edition -
Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 14; Column
4; National Desk
LENGTH: 891 words
HEADLINE: High Pesticide Levels Seen in U.S. Food
BYLINE: By MARIAN BURROS
BODY: Calling into question the Federal
Government's boast that the United States food supply is the safest in the
world, a consumer group said yesterday that in a majority of cases, domestic
produce had more, or more toxic, pesticide residues than imported produce.
The analysis by Consumer Reports of the amounts of pesticides on produce
and their toxicity is bad news about some of the fruits and vegetables that
children love best. This information is not meant to frighten people into eating
fewer fruits and vegetables, said Edward Groth, director of technical policy and
public service for Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports.
"It's not about fear of food," Mr. Groth said. "It's about giving people
information to make smart choices" to reduce the amount of pesticides they and
their children ingest.
John McClung, vice president for issues of the
United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, a trade group, said the produce
industry complied with the law. "We are disappointed that they have chosen to
continue to insist there is peril in fruits and vegetables," he said. "The risks
are remote and hypothetical."
The group's analysis of 27 foods cited 7
fruits and vegetables -- apples, grapes, green beans, peaches, pears, spinach
and winter squash -- as having toxicity at hundreds of times the levels of other
foods analyzed. Foods with the lowest toxicity were apple juice, bananas,
broccoli, canned peaches, milk, orange juice and canned or frozen peas and corn.
Children are at greater risk from pesticide residues because they eat
far more produce per pound of body weight than adults eat and because children
are more sensitive to effects of pesticides. Some pesticides are suspected of
causing cancer, some are toxic to the nervous system and some may interfere with
hormones.
To determine the relative toxicity of the produce, Consumer
Reports created a toxicity index based on the frequency of pesticide detection,
levels of residues and relative toxicity of residues. Using Department of
Agriculture statistics based on 27,000 food samples from 1994 to 1997, the
magazine looked at foods children are most likely to eat.
Almost all the
foods tested for pesticide residues were within legal limits, but were
frequently well above the levels the Environmental Protection Agency says are
safe for young children. According to the Consumers Union report, even one
serving of some fruits and vegetables can exceed safe daily limits for young
children. The example used for a young child was a 5-year-old weighing an
average of 44 pounds.
Domestic fresh peaches had the highest toxicity
level, far above peaches imported from Chile. Canned domestic peaches had very
low toxicity. Frozen domestic winter squash had a much higher toxicity level
than fresh domestic winter squash, but fresh and frozen imported winter squash
had very low levels of toxicity.
Mr. Groth said it was "shocking" that
foreign produce had lower levels of toxicity than domestic. He suggested the
reason might be, in part, that foreign growers used fewer pesticides because of
the additional costs. Processed fruits and vegetables often have lower levels of
pesticide residues than fresh because they are peeled and because they do not
have to be cosmetically perfect. In addition, many canners have contracts with
growers that specify what pesticides can be used.
The Environmental
Protection Agency is required by the 1996
Food Quality
Protection Act to re-examine the effects on children of widely used
pesticides. The agency has already lowered estimates for safe daily limits for
ingestion of 19 of about 40 organophosphate pesticides, including methyl
parathion, but it has not yet lowered the residue limits on foods. Methyl
parathion accounts for most of the total toxicity on the foods that were
analyzed, particularly peaches, frozen and canned green beans, pears and apples.
Late last year, the agency said that the methyl parathion posed an "unacceptable
risk" but that it had not taken any action to ban it or reduce its use.
Organophosphates are neurological poisons and work the same on humans as they do
on insects.
Dieldrin, banned since 1974, continues as a significant risk
because it remains in the soil. Unlike methyl parathion, dieldrin is absorbed
into the pulp of root vegetables as well as squashes, melons and cucumbers. The
only way to avoid it is to plant crops in uncontaminated soil.
Aldicarb
is the most acutely toxic of all pesticides currently in use. Like dieldrin,
aldicarb cannot be washed or trimmed off.
Mr. Groth said there were at
least 15 viable chemical or nonchemical alternatives for each hazardous
pesticide. Consumers Union has asked the Federal agency to act faster to reduce
children's exposure, urging it to concentrate immediately on the few pesticides
that contribute disproportionately to the toxicity of residues in the food
supply.
A spokesman for the agency said it was "in the process of
implementing the
Food Quality Protection Act."
In
addition to choosing foods with lower levels of toxicity, pesticide exposure can
be reduced by peeling produce and by buying organically grown fruits and
vegetables.
"There are plenty of ways parents can get healthy foods into
kids without exposing them to high-risk stuff," Nancy Metcalf of Consumer
Reports said.
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GRAPHIC: Chart:"FOR EXAMPLE: Toxicity Scores"
Levels of toxicity in foods tested by the United States Department of
Agriculture. The chart shows the levels in different fruits and vegetables.
(Source: Consumers Union)
LOAD-DATE: February 19, 1999