Chemical Battle Looms

Environmentalists are gearing up this week for another battle in Washington with traditional agriculture interests over the Delaney clause, a 1958 federal law that prohibits the presence of known carcinogens in processed food.

Previous attempts to overturn Delaney in the Republican-controlled Congress have stalled. But the most serious challenge appears to be coming from legislation sponsored by Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr. (R-Va.) that would revise all of the nation’s major pesticide laws and specifically repeal Delaney.

The Bliley bill has more than 100 co-sponsors and is scheduled to be discussed Tuesday in the House Commerce Committee.

The Delaney clause controversy has become a critical issue because, 38 years after the law was passed, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced plans to begin banning the use of about 70 pesticides that are known carcinogens and are used on food crops. The government’s action is the most sweeping since the Delaney clause was enacted and was prompted by lawsuits from environmental groups demanding that the clause be strictly enforced.

The prospect of losing dozens of chemicals--leading, farmers believe, to more costly growing methods--has alarmed agriculture interests. Keith Eckel, an executive board member of the American Farm Bureau, for instance, recently stated, “The Delaney clause is on a collision course with American farmers. Only Congress can throw the switch. . . . Major cancellations of pesticides due to Delaney have been avoided through appeals and regulatory delays--until now.”

Food industry representatives argue that Delaney’s uncompromising zero tolerance has become obsolete as science has advanced to the point where chemical residues can be detected in parts per billion or well below levels that could be considered dangerous.

The future of Delaney and other pesticide issues was the focus of a seminar held last week during the Eco Expo environmental fair in Los Angeles.

Al Meyerhoff, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco, called the Delaney clause “the toughest food safety standard in the world.” But the law has lain dormant for the last 30 years, he said, because it was not being enforced by the appropriate federal agencies.

The Clinton administration’s EPA changed that when it settled out of court with a coalition of environmental groups, including the defense counsel, that sought strict interpretation of Delaney. The agency is proceeding to withdraw registration for (in essence banning) nine pesticides known to be carcinogenic, including dicofol, mancozeb, propargite, simazine and triadimefon.

“We have blocked every attempt to repeal or blunt Delaney in the current Congress,” Meyerhoff said. “We are winning that fight.”

Banning chemicals, he said, is not the answer to the problem of pesticide-related carcinogens in food. A more appropriate way to deal with the issue would be through right-to-know laws that would require the chemical and food industries to disclose on product packaging all hazardous residues that may be present in foods. Such a requirement would create market pressure for food and beverage processors to reduce chemical usage.

As an example, Meyerhoff pointed to the controversy over methyl bromide, a soil fumigant known to damage the ozone layer. California’s scheduled ban of methyl bromide has been repeatedly delayed because growers say there is no suitable alternative. Meyerhoff said a ban would not be necessary if, for instance, wineries using the compound were forced to disclose its presence in vineyards to consumers via notices on wine labels. Such a requirement, he believes, would bring public pressure upon wineries to voluntarily discontinue methyl bromide usage.

Corporate responsibility and not market pressure, however, were what prompted the Robert Mondavi Winery to discontinue using methyl bromide years ago, said Mitchell Klug, Mondavi’s director of Napa Valley Winegrowing Operations.

Klug said the company has made environmentally sound practices a part of its corporate culture for 20 years. Currently, Mondavi operates a program called “Beyond Organic,” designed to reduce application of synthetic chemicals, decrease water usage, maintain natural habitats for beneficial predator insects and decrease the use of fuel by running tractors only when necessary.

Mondavi also operates the state’s most intensive laboratory analysis of grapes at harvest to monitor the chemical residues, if any, that may be present. Klug said he sees a steady decline in pesticide usage among vintners in Napa Valley.

“We use a herbicide on between 2% and 3% of our vineyards and in three years we plan to get away from even that,” Klug said. “We are trying to bring a thoughtful process to agriculture.”