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HEADLINE: EPA Cautions Parents on Pesticides; Brochure Stresses Importance of Washing Fresh Produce

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Mom was right when she said you should always wash an apple before eating it.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday began distributing a brochure to some 40,000 grocery stores that urges parents to wash, scrub, peel and trim fresh produce to remove pesticide residue before serving food to children.

Youngsters' developing nervous systems and organs can be affected by the large amounts of pesticides typically found on apples, potatoes and other foods, the agency said. Rinsing fruits and vegetables under running water has "an abrasive effect" that makes it better than soaking, according to the new booklet, which is also available on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/food. The Web site lets parents check specific foods to find out the maximum amount of pesticides now allowed by law.

Another suggestion: Children should eat a variety of foods. "This will give you a better mix of nutrients and reduce your likelihood of exposure to a single pesticide," the EPA said.

It mentions but does not endorse consuming organically grown foods to reduce exposure to chemicals.

The brochure was ordered by Congress as part of the Food Quality Protection Act, passed three years ago, which requires the EPA to reassess virtually all pesticides used on food.

The agency has been in the middle of a tug of war between consumer and environmental groups, which want stricter rules for pesticides, and U.S. farmers and chemical makers, whose contention is that there are few effective substitutes.

The American Crop Protection Association, representing pesticide makers, said the new brochure wrongly implied that food was unsafe because of pesticides.

"The food is safe because the EPA requires 120 or more health, environmental and safety tests on each pesticide before it permits farmers to use them," said Jay Vroom, president of the industry group.

Green groups said the brochure did not go far enough.

"It completely downplays the risk of pesticides," said Ken Cook, head of the Environmental Working Group.

"I don't think its mention of organics is courageous at all."

Cook's group recently set up its own Web site, which allows parents to fill a grocery cart with typical items that a preschooler might eat during a day and then calculate the likely amount of pesticide residue consumed. The address is http://www.foodnews.org.



LOAD-DATE: February 14, 1999