April 11,1994
In a landmark move on March 18, 1994,
Congressmember Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) introduced into
the U.S. House of Representatives a bill which, if
passed, will be a significant step toward protecting the
public from toxic pesticide residues in the U.S. food
supply. The National Campaign for Pesticide Policy
Reform, a coalition of organizations dedicated to
reducing U.S. pesticide use, is supporting the bill
(HR4091) which would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act to phase out the food use of certain
pesticides and pesticide categories that are highly
hazardous to human health.
"This bill provides a prevention and public health-
based approach to environmental regulation that
specifically protects children's health," said Philip J.
Landrigan, MD, chair of the National Academy of Science
(NAS) committee that wrote the 1993 report "Pesticides
in the Diets of Infants and Children." That report
found that the current U.S. regulatory approach to
controlling pesticide residues in food does not
adequately protect infant and children's health because
it does not reflect the "unique characteristics of the
diets of infants and children...," and ignores non-
dietary exposure from drinking water, residential
pesticides use and other sources. The report concluded
that "determinations of safe levels of exposure should
take into consideration the physiological factors that
can place infants and children at greater risk of harm
than adults."
To ensure that infants and children are not exposed
to unsafe levels of pesticide residues, the NAS report
recommended that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) modify its decision-making process for setting
tolerances so that it would be based more on health
considerations than on agricultural practices. The
current regulatory system does not specifically consider
infants and children when determining pesticide
"tolerances" (the legal limit of a pesticide residue
allowed in or on a raw agricultural commodity and, in
certain cases, on processed foods) which must be
established for any pesticide used on any food crop.
Additionally, the report stated that EPA understates the
health risks of pesticides by assuming that people are
exposed to one pesticide at a time in their diet, and
that exposure to several pesticides in a single food or
meal has no health significance. In reality, a person
may be exposed to as many as eight pesticides (and
possibly even more) in a single piece of fruit.
To address these problems, the Waxman Bill would
mandate:
1. Strict implementation of the findings of the National
Academy of Science's Committee on Pesticides in the
Diets of Infants and Children:
--Tolerances shall not be established or left in effect
unless the EPA specifically determines that the
tolerance will fully protect fetuses, infants, and young
children, taking into account their physiological
sensitivity and higher per unit of body weight exposure
to the pesticide.
--In making this finding, the EPA must account for all
routes of exposure to the pesticide, and for the
cumulative effects of all routes of exposure to
pesticides that are pharmacologically related or have a
common toxic mechanism or effect.
--In that absence of data relevant to fetal, infant and
young child exposure, the administrator shall apply a
ten fold additional safety factor to the tolerance. The
EPA may determine by rule making that a different safety
factor is appropriate.
2. Phase out of tolerances for certain high hazard
pesticides.
No later than five years from enactment, tolerances will
be terminated for pesticides:
--classified by the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) as known or probable human carcinogens (class A
and B respectively);
--that satisfy the definition for persistent toxic
compounds established by the International Joint
Commission on the Great Lakes, and;
--that satisfy the EPA's definition for bioaccumulative
toxic compounds.
The EPA would be required to develop appropriate
test methods and promulgate a list identifying pesticide
residues that are potent endocrine disrupters (including
estrogenic pesticides), potent neurotoxins (including
EPA Toxicity Category One pesticides), and potent
reproductive and developmental toxins within six months
of enactment. Tolerances for these pesticides would be
terminated five years from listing.
No new tolerances for any pesticide meeting any of the
high hazard phase out criteria would be allowed.
3. Extensions of tolerance phase-out.
The bill would allow tolerances for pesticides subject
to phase out to be extended for up to three years only
if the Administrator finds that the termination of the
tolerance will:
--create a public health emergency, or an outbreak of
famine or disease,
--cause a significant disruption of the food supply,
defined at a minimum as an annual disruption greater
than has occurred over the previous ten years as a
result of the weather or normal economic competition.
4. Phase out of certain highly hazardous "inert"
ingredients.
So-called "inert" ingredients (i.e. materials in
which pesticides are dissolved or the solids on which
they are adsorbed for convenience in handling and
application and to achieve maximum killing power
following application) that meet the above criteria for
phase out, would be required to be phased out of all
pesticide product formulations within two years.
5. Scientific Review of Carcinogens.
Within four years of enactment, the EPA must
conduct a review of the best available cancer data with
respect to all pesticides classified as "possible," or
class C, human carcinogens to determine whether they are
group A or B (i.e. "known" or "probable") human
carcinogens.
In addition to the Waxman bill, two other bills focusing
on pesticide residues will be considered in the
congressional session, an industry-backed bill
introduced last year, and a bill put forward by the
Clinton Administration which is expected to be
introduced sometime in April.
Source: Ed Hopkins, Citizen Action, 1120 19th Street NW,
Washington DC 20036; phone (202) 775-1580; fax (202)
296-4054. PANNA.
Contact: Marchant Wentworth, National Campaign for
Pesticide Policy Reform, c/o National Audubon Society,
666 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Washington DC 20003; phone
(202) 547-9009; fax (202) 547-9022; email
mwentworth@igc.apc.org.
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