Document vBJpaYRzO6ooRxxYr4ZDO3aw9

Pesticide laws ignore kids By PHILIP J. LANDRIGAN foreign substances. surements are of variable quality aanm) Any parent whose child refuses to I recently chaired a National often are not comparable. Thesemea- eat anything other than macaroni and cheese and juice knows that infants and children can have diets much dif ferent than those of adults. But the current federal system for regulating Research Council committee that surements need to be standardized d4furged the federal government to tak;ee these differences into account. We did not conclude that parents should! change their children's1"diets to avoii and computerized. They also should account for the fact that foods may contain more than one pesticide a time. Children are exppsed t o ^ s t i- pesticides does not take these diffr certain foods. On the contrary, frest cides from non-dieta^'sougeds, such ences into account. As a result, con fruits and vegetables are an impor as air,soil, lawns, pet^andm _ cern has arisen that at least some tant source of nutrients that can pro faces, and these exposures need to_b infants and children in this country vent later health problems. But, we[^ considered may be ingesting unsafe amounts of encouraged the federal government to Finally, toxicity testing procedures pesticides in their diets. consider infants, and children, expli need to be developed that specifically By applying almost a billion pounds of pesticides annually to their crops, .S. farmers have helped, increase the citly, in regulating pesticides and to evaluate the vulnerability of infants give our youngest citizens all of the and children. Most animal testing now protection they need against these uses mature animals; this testing quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables chemicals. should be extended to include young in the American diet. But traces of Most importantly, the government animals. Particularly important are pesticides remain on many of the should change the way it regulates tests for toxicity to the developing foods we eat, and pesticides have the pesticides. The current system potential to cause cancer, nervous sys balances the benefits of pesticide use tem damage, and other health against the risks of pesticide residues problems. ` in foods. This approach does not The federal government regulates always provide a sufficient degree of the use of pesticides to reduce th -protection. threat to human health. But, the . The system should, therefore, be federal government currently takes a revamped so that protection of health one-size-fits-all approach to pesticide becomes, in all instances, the para regulation. It largely overlooks the mount goal of pesticide regulation. fact that diets can change rapidly as a Regulations need to incorporate bet child grows. It does not take into ter information about exposure and account that children eat different the toxic effects of pesticides, along things depending on their ethnic and with continued consideration of agri geographic backgrounds. . And, it cultural requirements. ignores the fact that, becaiise chil To achieve this end, the federal dren are still growing and developing, government needs to, co llect. better their bodies can react differently to : statistics about what different age groups eat. Current food consumption immune^ nervous and ' reproductive systems. Using this information, the federal government could develop a new method of risk assessment. Current risk assessments use a single numbei to represent the average exposure pi the entire population to pesticides The new method would consider the kinds and quantities of foods actually eaten by infants and children and .the pesticide residues measured on those foods. This approach would give regu lators a much better idea of how many children might receive expo; sures above the level thought ta b| safe. This information could then be used in setting tolerances . -- the amount of pesticides legally allowec Philip J. Landrlgan, M.D., a pediatrician and head of the Department of Commu nity Medicine at Mount Sinai. School of M edicine In New York, chaired the National Research Council's Committee 3n Pesticides In the Diets of Infants and. Children. surveys group people into broad age categories. But, a one-year-old has a different diet than ia ` four-year-old, and we need to. learn about those diffrences. . ;_ Better data are also needed on the amounts of pesticides left on foods on or in foods when they leave the farm. - 1'" A fundamental tenet of pdiatrie medicine is that children are not jus "little, adults." The federal govern ment should quit treating them tha way, to ensure that the food they are when they are sold. Available mea eating is sa fe.........................