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| Chlorine | HACCP | Residue Review | Cantaloupe Article | |||||||
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From Environmental News Service Pesticide Review Finds Little Risk WASHINGTON, DC, June 13, 2002 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says its comprehensive review of the cumulative risks of organophosphorus pesticides found that all but two of the 30 compounds studied are safe. The EPA released its revised assessment of organophosphate pesticides on Monday, nearing completion of its review of more than a thousand organophosphate pesticide food tolerances - also known as legal residue limits. The agency said almost all the pesticides are expected to meet the highest, most rigorous federal safety standards. "Preliminary results from this scientific assessment provide good news for American consumers, " said Stephen Johnson, EPA's assistant administrator for the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances. "After years of effort to develop the scientific methodologies to conduct this sort of sophisticated risk assessment, the conclusions strongly support a high level of confidence in the safety of the food supply." Results on two chemicals, however, could lead to new restrictions on their use, or even a complete ban. Dichlorvos, or DDVP, used in fly paper and other pest strips, and dimethoate, an agricultural pesticide sprayed on a variety of produce, both were linked to health problems including headaches, nausea, neurological disorders and even death. "If it turns out that our concerns are valid, we will need to take action," said Johnson. "Banning them certainly is one of the options." The review of organophosphates was ordered as part of a legal settlement with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Release of the results was delayed three times by legal action by the pesticide industry. The most recent appeal by the industry was denied on Monday, and the EPA released the report later the same day. In the last several years, EPA has taken a variety of regulatory actions on the organophosphates pesticides, ranging from lowering application rates to complete cancellation of specific uses, to help meet the requirements of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996. The agency says these actions have reduced the risks of pesticide use. The EPA is still working to evaluate certain food and residential uses of individual organophosphates, including DDVP and dimethoate. The NRDC said the EPA review still failed to account for all pesticide threats to children. The EPA said its review considered pesticide use and exposure in food, drinking water and residential spraying ,and accounted for variability in potential exposures based on age, seasonal and geographical factors. The current assessment "includes consideration of the FQPA safety factor for protecting sensitive populations, including infants and children," the EPA said. Last week, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine's Center for Children's Health and the Environment began running a series of ads in the "New York Times" warning of the health effects that toxic chemicals, including pesticides, can have on children. The ads charge that exposure to pesticides can alter the productive systems of wildlife and humans, cause learning disabilities and increase the risk of certain cancers. At a press briefing on Tuesday, Philip Landrigan, director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment, said the United States has "not done a good job of testing [new] chemicals to determine if they cause toxic effects in children." "I don't think the public understands the broad, pervasive impact that chemicals have on children's health," Landrigan added. More information on the EPA's pesticide review is available at: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/cumulative More information on the NRDC's campaign against toxic pesticides is available at: http://www.nrdc.org/health/pesticides/default.asp
Ed Rajotte
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