Pesticides and Produce : Testing Urged to Dispel Fears Over Food Safety

The perception, right or wrong, that pesticide residues make some food unsafe to eat can only be overcome by more complete testing, a Sierra Club official warned.

Most experts on a panel at an Agricultural Issues and Outlook Symposium in Visalia said the food Americans eat is safe despite apparent public concern that some of it is not.

“There are very few illnesses each year due to pesticide use,” said Janet McDonald, consumer affairs officer for the Food and Drug Administration. “There are many more illnesses due to microbial problems. People seem to not know how to take care of food anymore.”

Call for Testing

But Carl Pope, the Sierra Club’s national deputy conservation director, said people will become more confident that their food is safe only when data is prepared and tests completed in areas where needed information is not yet fully available.

“Even if you believe the problem is solely one of perceptions, you can’t just educate people,” Pope said. “You’ve got to change the system to make safety come first.”

Dr. Carl Winter, toxicologist at UC Riverside, agreed that there are “many data gaps, much health information missing for many of the chemicals we use.”

He said government officials are working on finding that needed data.

And Jim Wells, special assistant with the state Department of Food and Agriculture’s pest management division, added: “Within a short period of time, we will have those data gaps filled or chemicals won’t be registered with the state anymore.”

California’s Testing

Most speakers said California’s pesticide testing program is better than the FDA’s, which Pope said is why the Sierra Club is concerned about an as yet unsuccessful attempt in Congress to keep states from doing their own testing.

Pope stressed that farmers are not behind that move, “but there are players in the game who don’t make safety first.”

Public concern over food safety is strong even though food grown in the United States is probably the cleanest in the world, and food grown in California is probably the cleanest in the United States, said Dr. Theodore L. Hullar, chancellor of UC Davis and the symposium’s moderator.