Snow White's apple was healthier

To:     Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>
          Senior Research Scientist
          State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation - Integrated Pest Management

Dear Lyndon, I thought you might like to read an article from the Environment News Service entitled: Dangerous Pesticides ("Registered" POISON Contamination) Found on Washington Apples, By Cat Lazaroff.

WASHINGTON, DC, April 5, 2000 (ENS) - Despite an August 1999 ban by the federal government on an apple pesticide, recent tests of Washington state apples show dangerous levels of the bug killer and other agriculture chemicals (MORE "REGISTERED" POISONS - YUMMY!) on apples. Tests commissioned by the Environmental Working Group indicate that two in 25 apples have pesticide levels so hazardous that a two year old child who eats half an apple or less would exceed the government’s daily safe exposure level.

For an aerial view of apple and pear orchards near Yakima, Washington (Photo by Brian Prechtel. All photos courtesy Agricultural Research Service) - click below : http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2000/2000L-04-05-06.html

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a Washington, D.C. based information provider for public interest groups and concerned citizens who are campaigning to protect the environment. An area of special concern to the EWG is the threat posed to infants and children by pesticides and other toxic chemicals ("REGISTERED POISONS").

Tests conducted by an independent laboratory for the EWG found a total of eight pesticides, including one, endosulfan, that has been recommended for a ban by the Washington State Department of Ecology, says the EWG report, "A Few Bad Apples."

Methyl parathion, one of the organophosphate class of pesticides, was banned from apples by the EPA last summer. But the ban did not remove residues of that chemical on fruit on trees when the announcement was made. Consumers are still eating the last of that crop, and will do so until the 2000 crop is available on store shelves next fall.

EWG found the bug killer at unsafe levels in two of 25 bags of Washington state apples purchased at Seattle area stores slightly less than the rate the government found in its most recent tests of the 1996 apple crop. One bag of apples went over EPA’s safety limit by a factor of 10.

Apple growers spray their orchards to reduce damage to apples from pests like this codling moth larva - (Photo by Doug Wilson) Click on url above to see photo.

Methyl parathion affects the nervous system. An expert panel report of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry said symptoms of methyl parathion poisoning can includes: nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, confusion, blurred vision, excessive sweating, and weakness or muscle twitching. Pregnant women, infants and children are at greatest risk, the panel warned.

Another organophosphate, azinphos-methyl (Guthion), was found in14 (56 percent) of the 25 bags of apples that EWG tested.

Federal regulators are expected to take action in the next month to protect children from another pesticide, chlorpyrifos (Dursban) that was also found on Washington apples. This widely used pesticide kills pests and injures humans by disrupting their nervous systems.

Apples, the number one fruit consumed by children, are a focus of the nation’s current pesticide control efforts stemming from the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act. The Act requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure that all pesticides on food and in the environment are safe for infants and children.

Washington state accounts for 60 percent of the nation’s apple supply and a large share of the nation’s $300 billion apple export market to Canada, Mexico and Pacific Rim nations.

EWG’s results are similar to those found by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) most recent testing of apples, conducted in 1996. (When these "registered" POISONS were not "banned!")

USDA has not tested any apples since that time, "leaving consumers completely in the dark about residues ("REGISTERED" POISON CONTAMINATION) in this important children's food," EWG says. The next round of apple test results, for samples taken this season, will not be available from the USDA until mid-2001 or later - long after grocers have stocked and sold the current apple crop and consumers have eaten it.

In response, the group is launching a "Test and Tell" initiative, calling on major supermarket chains to test apples and other important children's foods for pesticides, and to make the results available to their consumers.

As a part of its Test and Tell program, EWG will conduct routine tests for pesticides in apples and other foods and publish the results on its award winning web site, www.foodnews.org, along with plain-language descriptions of the pesticides’ health effects. In a second phase of tests now underway, EWG will examine apples, apple juice and other children's foods.

In 1995, Washington apple growers harvested about 3.5 million boxes of Fuji apples like these (Photo by Scott Bauer) - For photo - click on url above.

"If consumers knew which foods were higher in pesticides, they could shop to reduce their exposure. But consumers can’t get useful information from the government, grocery stores, the apple industry - and certainly not the pesticide industry," said EWG analyst and report author Todd Hettenbach. "Someone needs to give consumers unbiased information. We hope that supermarkets will take the lead, but until then EWG will be testing foods for pesticides and telling consumers what we find."

EWG called on major grocery stores chains to adopt a "test-and-tell" policy by which produce would be tested for pesticide residues and provide results to shoppers. The cost will be minimal to stores, said Hettenbach, if EWG’s experience is any indication.

"If a small nonprofit public interest group such as ours can spend tens of thousands of dollars each year on food testing, imagine what Safeway or Kroger could accomplish," he said.

The EWG, report, "A Few Bad Apples," is available at: http://www.ewg.org/pub/home/reports/fewbadapples/foreword.html

Well Lyndon, Children are finally being told it is not just the Evil Queen or witches that POISON apples! Shame on you all!

I have proven "my" alternatives work better and produce organic/poison-free fruit and vegetables - when will it be "legal" (in your opinion) to use safe and far more effective unregistered alternatives to actually control pest problems in California?

TOP
If you would like to be included in our mailing list for continuing information on pesticides, Email Us. with "subscribe" in the subject line.

Nontoxic Products Recommended by Steve Tvedten

Now Available

West / Central

East

Safe 2 Use

Safe Solutions, Inc.