Ten years after a consumer revolt against apples treated with the carcinogen Alar prompted a ban on the chemical, children are no better protected from pesticides in the nation's food supply, according to government data on the pesticides most often found in kids' favorite foods. A new study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) says apples, as well as some other fruits and vegetables, are so contaminated that parents should consider substituting items known to be lower in pesticides.
EWG called on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Carol Browner to immediately halt the use of one highly toxic insecticide that poses short-term risks to small children. The group said an emergency cancellation of the bug killer methyl parathion is needed because hundreds of thousands of preschoolers are exceeding government-established safety limits for the pesticide every day, mostly through consumption of apples and peaches. EWG recommended that until methyl parathion is banned, parents shift from apples and peaches to other fresh fruits for preschoolers.
"Consumers revolted in 1989 when the news media revealed that government scientists knew Alar was a potent carcinogen, but under pressure from the manufacturer allowed the chemical to stay on the market," said Ken Cook, president of EWG and an author of the report. "Today, nothing's changed: Children's foods are contaminated with unsafe levels of numerous pesticides. The government knows this, and is dragging its heels — protecting chemicals instead of kids."
EWG's computer-assisted analysis of more than 110,000 government-tested food samples and detailed government data on children's food consumption found that multiple pesticides known or suspected to cause brain and nervous system damage, cancer, or hormone interference are common in foods many children consume. According to EWG's report, "How 'Bout Them Apples?," hundreds of thousands of children may be at risk:
More than a quarter million American children, ages one through five, ingest a combination of 20 different pesticides every day. More than 1 million preschoolers eat at least 15 pesticides on a given day. For the 20 million American children ages 1-5, each child eats an average of eight pesticides every day.
Every day, 610,000 children ages one through five — equal to all the kids of that age in the states of Washington and Oregon combined — consume a dose of neurotoxic organophosphate insecticides (OPs) that the government deems unsafe.
More than half of these unsafe exposures are from one pesticide, methyl parathion.
Ten years after Alar, apples are still loaded with pesticides. More than half the children exposed to an unsafe dose of OP insecticides get it from apples, apple sauce or apple juice. Some apples are so toxic that just one bite can deliver an unsafe dose of OPs to a child under five. Since government data show that young children may consume 30 times more apple juice for their body weight than adults, apples remain the most prominent symbol of a regulatory system that fails to protect kids.
"For the government to follow the law and keep its promise to protect children will mean big reductions in the use of many pesticides and an outright ban on a handful," said Bill Walker, EWG's California director. "Like the tobacco companies, the pesticide industry is arguing that absolute proof of harm to children is necessary before any changes in standards. But parents should not have to choose between feeding their kids plenty of fresh produce and exposing them to dangerous pesticides."
Food and Drug Administration records show that strawberries, apples, and peaches grown in the United States and cantaloupe from Mexico are the foods most contaminated with pesticides. The fruits least contaminated with pesticides were watermelon, bananas, kiwi, pineapple, and domestically grown cantaloupe. The least contaminated vegetables include corn, onions and peas.
To help parents choose safer foods, EWG has launched a new Web site, www.foodnews.org, which allows anyone to select from more than 350 common food items and instantly learn which pesticide residues were in those foods, with the same odds of getting those chemicals as in the real world. www.foodnews.org also provides parents with information about the health risks those pesticides pose, how to avoid them, and a quick way to express concerns about pesticides to food companies, grocery stores and the Clinton administration.
Although the chemical industry has tried to rewrite the history of Alar as an unfounded food "scare," numerous studies confirming that it causes cancer show that the public was right to demand its removal from the food supply. Similarly, Cook said, the public must demand that the government move quickly to fully implement the Food Quality Protection Act, a landmark 1996 law mandating extra protection from pesticide exposure for children. In the meantime, parents can reduce their children's exposure by taking these steps: