Pesticides

IT IS UNLIKELY that most Americans would voluntarily consume poisonous substances, yet millions of people unknowingly consume poisonous residues on fruit and vegetables that they eat every day. Pesticides are useful tools in agricultural work because they kill insects and reverse conditions that interfere with the growth of agricultural products.

However, it is virtually impossible to remove all residues before products are sold and consumed. While it is advisable to wash all fruit and vegetables thoroughly before consuming them, the process will not remove all pesticide residues. In addition to the dangers that pesticides pose to individuals who consume trace amounts on food products, pesticides that are not handled properly can create a host of problems for agricultural and horticultural workers. Even if it were possible to remove all pesticides from such products, exposure to pesticides would likely continue because traces of pesticides are frequently used both indoors and outdoors in almost all homes, apartments, schools, businesses, hotels, restaurants, parks, golf courses, and other places that people frequent. Pesticide residues are also found in water, sidewalks, bedding, furniture, baby toys, and other items that are part of everyday lives. Numerous studies have shown that exposure to pesticides can cause cancer, respiratory disorders, neural damage (as in Parkinson's Disease), immune system damage, endocrine system dysfunction, reproductive problems, and other less serious problems.

Children are particularly vulnerable to pesticides in foods and the environment. In 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced strict limitations on methyl parathion and azinphosmethyl, two pesticides that were commonly used in growing peaches and apples, because they were suspected of causing neurological damage in infants and children. A study of pregnant women in New York City released in January 2003 by Dr. Gertrud Berkowitz of Mount Sinai School of Medicine revealed that unborn infants were being exposed to pesticides at 60 to 120 times the EPA tolerance levels. Berkowitz's overall conclusion was that urban homes might be even more toxic than agricultural residences.

A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published in April 2003, which examined the presence of 116 separate chemicals (including 34 pesticides) in thousands of participants, revealed that metabolites of chlorpyrifos were twice as likely to be found in children aged 6 to 11 than in adults. While infants and children are at greater risk from pesticide exposure, pesticides also affect the health and lives of the adult population[Page 608] on a global basis. In 2003, a controversial Belgian study found pesticide residue in the blood of 159 women with breast cancer. Studies in North Carolina and Iowa uncovered a correlation between exposure to pesticides and the risk of prostate cancer in males whose work involved pesticide application. Traces of various pesticides, antibiotics, aspirin, and Prozac have been found during tests on wastewater treatment plants. Pollutants from paper mills, power plants, and garbage incinerators that wind their way to the ocean are thought to be responsible for the presence of mercury in fish that continues to be an issue with environmentalists and consumers.