Report Condemns Rise in Pesticide Use : Health: Environmental group warns of ineffective controls. Regulators are urged to phase out all cancer-causing contaminants.

Government efforts to control potentially dangerous pesticides have been “ineffective and indifferent,” contributing to a doubling of total pesticide use over the last 30 years, a prominent environmental group said Monday.

In a report titled “After Silent Spring,” the Natural Resources Defense Council said pesticides have become “pervasive contaminants” of drinking water and are present in at least 38% of government-analyzed food samples.

The title refers to a widely acclaimed book written three decades ago by Rachel Carson, who warned of environmental dangers resulting from increased use of chemicals and foresaw a time when destruction of birds and other wildlife could bring about a “silent spring.”

Citing 71 known carcinogenic pesticides sprayed on food crops, the report called on regulators to phase out all cancer-causing pesticides. Such an effort would be undertaken primarily by the Environmental Protection Agency, which sets allowable chemical-residue levels in food.

EPA spokesman Al Heier welcomed the report, saying the agency “looks at every opportunity to improve food safety.” He said the Clinton Administration is committed to working with Congress to upgrade the purity of the nation’s food supply.

An interagency team representing the EPA, the Food and Drug Administration and the Agriculture Department is reviewing food safety issues and will evaluate the report, Heier said.

The report by the council, a nonprofit advocacy group claiming more than 170,000 members, was issued several days before the expected release of a comprehensive study on pesticides in the diets of infants and children. That study is being compiled by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council.

In a related development, the Public Interest Research Group urged Congress on Monday to strengthen the Clean Water Act, which is up for reauthorization this year. The nonpartisan consumer organization said industries still release too many toxic chemicals, such as benzene and formaldehyde, into the nation’s waterways.

Elaborating on his organization’s pesticide report, Erik Olson, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told reporters that the existing regulatory system is “an abysmal failure and in need of a complete overhaul.”

Olson said the government “has done little to stem the increase in pesticide use or to promote the use of safe alternatives.”

In addition to potential harm to consumers, the council said, studies indicate that farmers are at increased risk of developing certain cancers because of their exposure to pesticides in the field. It recommended stepped-up efforts to find alternatives to the use of pesticides, including biological and genetically engineered pest controls.

Citing the example of other countries, officials said Sweden achieved a 50% reduction in pesticide use between 1985 and 1990 and has committed itself to cutting another 50% by 1997.

If 50% of pesticides now used in U.S. agriculture were replaced by non-chemical control techniques, crop yields would remain the same and food prices would rise by less than 1%, the council estimated.