August 28, 1995
Pesticides in U.S. Baby Food
A recent study based on an independent analysis of U.S. baby
food products found 16 different pesticides in eight major
baby foods. Researchers with the Environmental Working Group
(EWG) commissioned a food industry lab to analyze eight foods
which form a significant part of the average infant's first-
year diet: applesauce, peaches, pears, plums, green beans,
squash, sweet potatoes and garden vegetables (or pea and
carrot blend).
The products tested were made by the three largest U.S. baby
food producers, Gerber, Heinz, and Beech-Nut, whose sales
account for 96% of all baby food sold in the U.S. They were
tested for pesticides using the Food and Drug
Administration's standard pesticide analytical methods. In
the case of five of those foods, pesticides were detected in
two-thirds or more of all samples. The study found 16
different pesticides including three probable human
carcinogens, five possible human carcinogens, five pesticides
that disrupt the endocrine system and eight nervous system
toxins. The pesticide found most often and at the highest
levels was iprodione, a fungicide used primarily on peaches
and plums, and classified as a probable human carcinogen by
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
According to the report, researchers found that the baby
foods containing fruit had more pesticides and at higher
levels than did those made from vegetables. Five different
pesticides were found in pears, four in applesauce and three
in peaches, plums and green beans. While all of the
pesticides were at levels well below federal limits,
according to the EWG, federal limits do not provide adequate
protection for infants and children, nor do they account for
the toxicity of these pesticides in combination or in terms
of the overall load of pesticides to which an infant may be
exposed.
The study strongly criticizes the weakness of current U.S.
standards to protect infants from pesticides, and current
efforts by Congress to weaken Federal environmental
safeguards, including pesticide safety standards. In a EWG
press release for the study, Philip J. Landrigan, M.D. stated
that instead of heeding the recommendations of the 1993
National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report on children and
pesticides, Congress is engaged in actions that will make
already weak pesticide standards even weaker. Landrigan
chaired a five year study released by the NAS in 1993 that
strongly recommended tougher safeguards to protect infants
and children from pesticides. According to Landrigan, "While
no single residue found in baby food presents an immediate
health threat, exposure to pesticides that begins in infancy
may contribute over a lifetime to an increased incidence of
diseases, such as cancer, or to subtle or serious loss of
function in delicate and rapidly developing organ systems
such as the nervous, immune, or endocrine systems that are
highly vulnerable during infancy."
A bipartisan poll released at the same time as the report
found that 78% of U.S. voters would like to see elimination
of pesticide residues from baby food even when told that this
would mean "higher costs to businesses that are passed on to
consumers." The poll also found that 83% of voters agree that
"if a baby food manufacturer finds that its products contain
pesticide residues, even at levels below current government
standards, the company should act immediately to eliminate
them."
Source: Pesticides in Baby Food, Richard Wiles and Kert
Davies, EWG and National Campaign for Pesticide Policy
Reform, 1995; EWG Press Release, July 25, 1995.
Contact: EWG, 1718 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 600,
Washington DC 20009; phone (202) 667-6982; fax (202) 232-
2592; email ewg@igc.apc.org. Copies of the report are
available from EWG for US$10 plus $3 shipping. This report
and many other EWG publications are available on the World
Wide Web at: http://www.ewg.org.
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