Atty. Gen. Joins Suit Challenging EPA on Pesticides

Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, joining with environmentalists and organized labor, filed two legal actions Thursday charging that the federal government has improperly permitted the use of at least 20 cancer-causing pesticides.

In a challenge to the federal system of regulating pesticides, the coalition accused the Environmental Protection Agency of relying on a “double standard” that has allowed these pesticides to remain in use even after they have been found to cause cancer in test animals.

“Cancer-causing pesticides, which find their way into processed foods, should not be used,” Van de Kamp said in announcing the filing of a lawsuit and an administrative petition against the Environmental Protection Agency.

The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento federal court, accuses the EPA of failing to collect data that would lead to the cancellation of at least 13 chemicals used on a wide range of crops. At the same time, the petition seeks to ban seven widely used pesticides known to cause cancer and found in minute amounts in such processed foods as cereal, orange juice, baby foods, crackers, flour and sugar.

In Washington, EPA spokesman Al Heier defended the agency’s record, saying that no pesticide in use poses an unacceptable risk to the public. Furthermore, he said, the EPA is attempting to meet a 1997 deadline for collecting data on pesticides in use to determine whether any of them are so hazardous that they should be prohibited.

“We don’t know of any pesticide out there in processed foods that poses a risk that we feel is unreasonable, or we would take action immediately,” Heier said. “We will be systematically looking at every pesticide, and we have committed ourselves to completing it in the time frame Congress gave us, which is 1997.”

The legal actions follow on the heels of a nationwide scare over Alar, a growth-inducing chemical sprayed on apples and other produce. Like the chemicals named in Thursday’s action, Alar has remained on the market long after tests found that it can cause cancer.

Among those involved in filing the lawsuit and petition is the Natural Resources Defense Council, whose study of Alar earlier this year sparked public alarm over the chemical and helped persuade the EPA to ban its use beginning in 1990.

‘Rest of the Iceberg’

“Alar was the tip of the iceberg and this is the rest of the iceberg,” said Al Meyerhoff, a senior attorney with the environmental group. “This is the most far-reaching pesticide lawsuit ever brought in this country.”

At the heart of the issue is a 31-year-old law known as the Delaney Clause, which prohibits the residue of cancer-causing pesticides in processed food. The standard is different for raw foods, which are permitted to contain cancer-causing pesticide residues if the benefit of using the chemicals outweighs their risk.

The Environmental Protection Agency, however, last year announced that it will apply the same risk-benefit standards to processed foods that it applies to raw produce, thereby permitting the use of known cancer-causing chemicals in processed food. Only newly developed chemicals found to cause cancer would be banned from use, the agency ruled.

Of the hundreds of pesticides in use in the United States, the EPA has so far identified 66 as probable or possible human carcinogens. Among these are 20 pesticides that have been found in processed foods--the same 20 chemicals identified in the legal actions filed Thursday.

Most such chemicals found to cause cancer in animals were approved by the federal government decades ago, long before sophisticated methods of testing were developed to determine their cancer risk. But Van de Kamp and the environmentalists maintain that the EPA must now ban their use in processed foods.

‘Regulatory Schizophrenia’

“Dozens of potentially cancer-causing pesticides are now being permitted in the American food supply because of this ill-advised and unlawful regulatory schizophrenia by EPA,” Meyerhoff said. “This case demonstrates that the problem of the American food supply is not just apples or Alar, it’s a failed public policy.”

The legal action was initiated by the Natural Resources Defense Council and joined by Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen, the AFL-CIO, a farm worker who has suffered pesticide poisoning and three young Central Valley children.

In recent weeks, Van de Kamp also agreed to join the effort, adding the weight of California’s chief law enforcement officer to the lawsuit and the petition.

By seizing on the volatile issue of food safety, the Democratic attorney general could help recharge his 1990 campaign for governor and strengthen his ties with environmentalists and organized labor.

The lawsuit contends that children are at an even higher risk than adults because they consume a larger proportion of processed foods, fruits and vegetables for their body weight at a time when their immune systems are not fully developed.

According to a report by the National Academy of Sciences, 90% of the cancer risk from pesticides comes from chemicals that were approved for use before they were found to cause cancer.

Among the chemicals identified in the lawsuit and petition are:

- Mancozeb and Maneb (also known as EBDCs), which are among the most widely used fungicides in the nation. Roughly one-third of all fruits and vegetables grown in the nation are treated with these pesticides, which can cause cancer and may cause birth defects. Although the EPA has been aware of the danger of these chemicals since 1977, lack of data and bureaucratic foot-dragging have delayed action to prohibit their use, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

- Benomyl, also known as Benlate, is a fungicide used on at least 43 food crops. More than 50% of the nation’s peach crop is treated with benomyl, which is a systemic fungicide that cannot be washed off produce. The EPA has classified benomyl as a possible human carcinogen.

- Dichlorvos (DDVP) is an insecticide first registered for use in 1948. It is used on tomatoes after harvesting and is applied on such products as flour, sugar and cereals. The EPA has classified dichlorvos as a probable human carcinogen.

- Alachlor, the most widely used herbicide in the nation. Also known as Lasso, it is used mainly on corn, soybeans and peanuts. Based on studies of rodents, the EPA has classified alachlor as a probable human carcinogen.