Why organic food is safer for children

 

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Subject:   Why organic food is safer for children......................
 Date:        Fri, 10 Aug 2001 07:59:13 -0400
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

cc:    Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov

Dear Mr. Helliker,  I thought you might like to read an press release entitled:

PRESS RELEASE 9 AUGUST 2001

Why organic food is safer for children

Pesticide Action Network UK says it is safer for children and babies to eat organic food, welcoming Monday's report from the Soil Association on food safety. Latest pesticide residue results from the European Commission suggest that residue safety breaches are getting worse.

The EC has analysed the testing carried out by seventeen national monitoring programmes in European Union countries, as well as Norway and Iceland of melons, peppers, cauliflowers and wheat. While 64 per cent of the samples contained no detectable residues, nearly one-third of the food we consume is contaminated. Of this, 4.3 per cent exceeds the approved levelsknown as the Maximum Residue Limit (MRL). Of particular concern were the levels of residues of endosulfan and methamidophos in peppers and in melons.

The EU report highlights the low level of residue testing for fruit and vegetables in the UK . Compared with 17 other European countries, the UK ranks 11th for the number of samples taken, and the lowest per capita: only 0.231, compared with 3.44 samples per capita in Sweden . However, UK samples in the monitoring programme showed 2.9 per cent of the residues analysed as above the MRL, whereas 30 per cent of samples in the Netherlands were above the MRL, 24 per cent in Finland , and 10 per cent in Spain .

Because most residue limits are set on the adult bodyweight, children can consume a disproportionate level of pesticide residues. At the residue levels found across Europe , a toddler would consume 181 per cent of the acceptable daily level of endosulfan in peppers, and a massive 681 per cent (over six times) of the acceptable level of methamidophos. As a precautionary measure, the EC have greatly lowered the MRL for methamidophos on peppers.

Both these pesticides are known to cause problems, particularly in developing countries. Many people died in Benin recently as a result of exposure to the pesticide endosulfan, and methamidophos is an organophosphate known to affect those working with pesticides in the field.

Most parents would agree that they do not want their children exposed to pesticide residues in their food. The Soil Association report was launched at Mapledene Early Years Centre in Hackney where organic food is served to the children for the sake of their health.

CONTACTS

David Buffin, Pesticide Action Network UK davidbuffin@pan-uk.org

Alison Craig, Pesticide Action Network UK alisoncraig@pan-uk.org

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

European Commission, Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General, Monitoring of Pesticide Residues in Products of Plant

Origin in the European Union, Norway and Iceland , 1999 Report, SANCO/397/01-Final, June 2001

http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/inspections/fnaoi/reports/pesticides

Organic farming, food quality and human health a review of the evidence Soil Association 2001 Pesticide Information Updates are provided free of charge by the Pesticide Action Network UK .  You can join this list by signing on at the following page: www.pan-uk.org/piuform.htm

To remove yourself from this list contact David Allen at admin@pan-uk.org

Well Mr. Helliker,  If someone suggested ten years ago that people would be willing to pay more money for bottled water than they do for soda or beer - what would you have said?  Yet today this is a common occurance, as is the purchase of organic food - all because people want to avoid your "registered" POISON "residue" at any cost.  When the President wanted to allow more arsenic to contaminate our water he lost!  Most parents would agree that they do not want their children exposed to your "registered" pesticide residues in their food. One day people will look back at the current use/misue of your "registered" POISONS and wonder at the "science" that allowed the pollution of our world and created super pests and more crop loss than if we had done nothing!  I believe the practice of bleeding the sick will be compared as being less harmful and/or far more useful than the current use/misuse of your "registered" POISONS!!

Respectfully,  Stephen L. Tvedten 

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