Facts of Life: Issue Briefings for Health Reporters - from the Center for the Advancement of Health
The Issue:
Federal regulators set limits for the pesticide residue permitted in or on food to manage risk of children’s special sensitivity to the synthetic chemicals food producers use to protect their crops from pests. Regulators also consider other sources where children may encounter pesticides – at home, in the backyard, even from a pet’s flea collar.
Today, food inspections turn up little evidence of limit violations.1 But despite federal protections, scientific uncertainty about health effects and widespread compliance by food producers, many parents are further reducing the volume of pesticides their children consume by choosing organic fruits and vegetables.
Does Organic Mean Safer?
Science has confirmed conventional wisdom that pesticide residue is found less often, and at lower levels, in organically grown food compared with non-organic food.2 But too little research exists to determine if the trace amounts of pesticides that remain on fruits and vegetables cause any long-term health effects.
Just a fraction of the commodities tested in the government’s annual monitoring have pesticide residue above allowable levels.1 “It’s assumed that farmers have been doing a good job at keeping pesticides at the required tolerance levels,” says Richard Fenske, director of the Pacific Northwest Center for Agricultural Safety and Health Center at the University of Washington. “So many take the view that there is no problem and that we are wasting our time even talking about.
Consumers Union policy analyst Urvashi Rangan says, “Just because you’ve never proved harm from pesticide residues, does not prove they are safe. …. We are big proponents of minimizing overall risk.” The Consumers Union conducted the comparative analysis that found lower pesticide levels in organic food versus conventionally grown foods.
The Facts:
Food is the main source of pesticide exposure for U.S. infants and children, according to a 1993 National Research Council report.3
Produce stamped “certified organic” is grown without the agrichemicals used in conventional farming, but is not necessarily pesticide free.2
In proportion to their body weight, preschool children consume twice as much fruit and vegetables as adults, according to a 1998 Food Additives and Contaminants study.4
A study of elementary school-age children found their exposure to two commonly used pesticides dropped quickly and significantly when their diets were switched from conventional to organic foods, according to a 2005 Environmental Health Perspectives article.5
A study of children age 2 to 4 found that children eating organic fruits and vegetables had six times lower levels of pesticide byproducts in their blood versus children eating conventional produce, according to a 2003 Environmental Health Perspectives article.6
The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 requires the Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate the health risks pesticides pose to children, and the EPA sets safety thresholds for that exposure.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2003 Pesticide Data Program survey found pesticide residue levels above the legally allowable level in 0.3 percent of the 11,522 samples test that year.1
There was no detectable pesticide residue in about 54 percent of the food sampled in the 2003 Pesticide Data Program survey.1
Food certified as organic must be produced without most synthetic pesticides and fertilizer to comply with U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations.
An analysis of data on 94,000 food samples found that pesticide residue is detected less often, and at lower levels in organically grown food compared to non-organic food, according to 2002 research from the Consumers Union.2
Pesticide residue found in organic produce is linked to contamination from long-ago banned pesticides that linger in the environment and drift from nearby non-organic farms, according to a study conducted by the publisher of Consumer Reports.2
Picky About Produce
It is not unusual to pay a 20- or 30-percent premium for organic fruits and vegetables. But for parents who are spending more to avoid pesticides, the decision pays off, says researcher Chensheng Lu.
Lu led a University of Washington study that substituted elementary-age children’s conventional diets with organic foods for just five days. The researchers found the levels of two pesticides detectedin the children’s urine dropped quickly and significantly.
The study is proof that alternative food choices can lessen children’s exposure to agrichemicals, says Lu, who is now a professor at Emory University’s school of public health. The amount of pesticide residue in food is small, he said, but scientists still don’t know if that minute exposure over a lifetime has a cost to health.
“ It’s a low level, that’s a fact. But if you multiply that times 365 days, who knows?” Lu says.
That accumulated exposure is especially worrisome because children are more vulnerable to pesticides, according to health promotion expert Alexandra Evans.
“ Kids eat proportionally more contaminated foods, on a volume-per-weight basis, than adults,” she said. “Pesticides tend to be stored in fat, and kids have more body fat, proportionately than adults.” She also said children’s still-developing livers may give them less capacity to detoxify
chemicals.
An organic-only diet is unaffordable for many families. But Lu says parents can avoid running up their grocery bill by being discriminating in their choice of organic foods.
“ Not every food item that we purchase has the same level of residue,” he said.
Lu uses the example of choosing organic strawberries as a wise buy because they are a tender-fleshed fruit grown close to the dirt. It may also be money smart to choose conventionally grown broccoli because it has a web of leaves surrounding the florets resulting in lower levels of pesticide residue, Lu says.
Evans, an assistant professor with the University of South Carolina’s school of public health, says a child’s eating habits can guide organic food choices. Sometimes preschoolers go through stages where they pick a favorite item and will only eat that food for several weeks.
That finicky phase may be a good time to splurge on organic alternatives, Evans said.
Parents can also look for IPM produce – integrated pest management – which is generally cheaper than organic foods. IPM fruits and vegetables are grown using synthetic pesticides but farmers incorporate alternative agriculture practices that can lower pesticide residue in IPM produce to non-detectable levels.
Simple food-preparation practices – like washing vegetables in a diluted solution of water and dish detergent – can further reduce the amount of pesticide in consumed food, Evans added.
“ If you can afford it, choose organic; if money is an issue as it is for many Americans, just eating more fruits and vegetables is the first priority,” she advises.
Expert Sources:
Alexandra Evans, Ph.D.
Health Promotion, Education and Behavior
Arnold School of Public Health
University of South Carolina
(803) 777-4862
evansae@gwm.sc.edu
Richard A. Fenske, Ph.D.
School of Public Health and Community Medicine
University of Washington
(206) 543-0916
rfenske@u.washington.edu
Chensheng (Alex) Lu, Ph.D.
Environmental and Occupational Health
Rollins School of Public Health
Emory University
(404) 727-2131
clu2@sph.emory.edu
Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D.
Consumers Union
urangan.@consumer.org
References
1. Pesticide Data Program, Annual Summary, calendar year 2003. U.S. Department of Agriculture. (March 2005).
2. BP Baker et al. (May 2002) Pesticide residues in conventional, IPM-grown and organic foods: Insights from three U.S. data sets. Food Additives and Contaminants, Vol. 19, No. 5 pgs. 427-446.
3. Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children (1993). National Research Council, Committee on Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children.
4. CA Lawrie et al. (1998) Different dietary patterns in relation to age and the consequences for intake of food chemicals. Food Additives and Contaminants, Vol. 15, supplement pgs. 75-81.
5. Chensheng Lu et al. (Sept. 2005) Organic diets significantly lower children’s dietary exposure to organophosporus pPesticides. Environmental Health Perspectives, online.
6. CL Curl et al. (2003) Organophosphorus pesticide exposure to urban and suburban preschool children with organic and conventional diets. Environmental Health Perspectives 111 p. 377-382.
7. National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals (March 2003). Department of Health and Human Services, CDC.
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© Copyright 2006, Center for the Advancement of Health
The Center for the Advancement of Health is an independent nonprofit organization that promotes greater recognition of how psychological, social, behavioral, economic and environmental factors influence health and illness. The Center advocates the highest quality research and communicates it to the medical community and the public. The fundamental aim of the Center is to translate into policy and practice the growing body of evidence that can lead to the improvement and maintenance of the health of individuals and the public. The Center was founded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation, which continue to provide core funding. Funding for this series was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
For Information Contact:
Lisa Esposito, Editor, Health Behavior News Service
Center for the Advancement of Health
2000 Florida Ave., NW, Suite 210, Washington, DC 20009
p. 202.387.2829 / f. 202.387-2857 press@cfah.org
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Facts of Life: Issue Briefings for Health Reporters
The Center for the Advancement of Health
http://www.cfah.org/factsoflife/index.cfm