January 24, 2001

The American Crop Protection Association says an Environmental Protection Agency report on children and the environment "makes misleading statements concerning potential exposure levels of pesticide residues in food. It is inaccurate to suppose that exposures could be great enough to cause harmful health effects."

Issued Jan. 8, the EPA report lists "scary health consequences observed in some lab animals fed high doses, but those are not relevant to the infinitesimal exposures children might experience," says ACPA. EPA says it evaluates the safety of all new and existing pesticides and restricts pesticide use to those applications that do not pose unacceptable human health or ecological risks.

According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institute of Health, extensive regulations assure that the level at which pesticide residues are found are well below the levels known to not cause any health effects, ACPA notes. NIEHS says the fact that they are found at all is only due to the significant advances in analytical chemistry.

"Further, toxicity testing not only determines the health effects of pesticides but also the level at which there are no toxic effects on the most sensitive population -- children and the elderly. If that level cannot be determined, then it is unlikely to be permitted for use on food crops. NIEHS says this helps ensure if a person -- child or adult -- eats a larger-than-normal amount of a particular food, or several different foods with the same or similar pesticide residue, they still will not reach the level of exposure required for a toxic effect to occur, even if they are more sensitive than the general population," according to ACPA.

NIEHS adds that the mere presence of a trace amount of a pesticide does not mean that the product is unhealthy. On the contrary, eating a diet full of a variety of fruits, grains and vegetable has been shown to significantly decrease the risk of a variety of health problems from high blood pressure to cancer.

"Instead of maligning pesticides, EPA should encourage uses that help protect children's health," ACPA says. "For example, EPA reports that there are increases in the prevalence of asthma among children, especially poor black youngsters. A study reported in 1997 by the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that there may be a link between exposure to cockroaches and the severity of symptoms in children who have asthma."

A study reported in December 2000 by the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology concludes that mouse allergen may be an important indoor allergen in inner-city children with asthma. Pesticides -- including insecticides that kill cockroaches and rodenticides that kill rats and mice -- are "environmental medicines" that reduce children's exposure to vermin. They should continue to play a vital role in protecting public health. When pesticides are used judiciously and according to their label, they are safe and effective tools for pest control, ACPA says.

The EPA report claims that evidence suggests that environmental contaminants such as pesticides may contribute to an increased frequency of some childhood cancers. "But the report fails to mention that the researchers EPA itself cites acknowledge that the evidence for these suspicions is not conclusive. The report also attempts to link a litany of malignancies to pesticides -- but again fails to mention that the cited research merely evaluates case reports or case-control studies and acknowledges limitations of nonspecific pesticide exposure information, few exposed subjects and the potential for recall bias," according to ACPA.

"Suggested" evidence is not conclusive and "continuing to trumpet these allegations without sound science as hard evidence is irresponsible." ACPA adds.