Pesticides: pro and con - effects of pesticides on consumer health - includes related articles

Vegetarian Times, Nov, 1995 by Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin, Richard Wiles, Bruce Ames

Do pesticides on fruits and vegetables pose a threat to consumers' heath? Some people are so convinced the answer is yes that they buy only organic produce. Others feel confident that pesticide residues are harmless or are present in such minute amounts that they pose no risk at all. But most of us fall somewhere in the middle. We are concerned that pesticides may be harmful to our health, but we often buy conventionally grown produce because it's easier to find and cheaper. But we wonder: What effect is this having on our health?

There are no hard numbers to rely on in determining the risks. A definitive answer depends on too many factors: which pesticides, how much of them and in what combinations? The effects of ingesting individual pesticides in the quantities that appear on produce are unknown, as are the additive effects of eating various combinations of pesticides, and the cumulative effects of eating these chemicals day after day. The risks almost certainly differ for individuals: Children, for example, are exposed to larger doses of certain pesticides because of their more limited diets and smaller body weights, and are more sensitive to certain pesticides because they are still growing.

Admittedly, Vegetarian Times has a position on this issue: We strongly encourage readers to eat organically grown foods whenever possible. We base this position on several factors: the illnesses pesticides cause in farm workers who are exposed to them in large quantities; the damage pesticides do to the environment; a belief that it's best to avoid eating any unnecessary synthetic chemicals; and a commitment to support farmers who use organic agricultural methods. Despite our conviction that growing food organically is better for the planet and its inhabitants, however, we don't have an answer to that most basic question: Are the pesticides found on conventionally farmed produce harmful to the health of consumers?

We posed this question to two people who have spent their careers examining the health effects of agricultural pesticide residues. Bruce Ames, Ph.d, is director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Center at the University of California-Berkeley and co-author of numerous studies on the cancer-causing effects of pesticides and naturally occurring chemicals in foods. Richard Wiles is director of the Agricultural Pollution Prevention Project at the Washington D.C.-based Environmental Working Group and co-author of Pesticides in Children's Food (EWG, 1993), an analysis of the health risks posed by pesticide residues in children's diets. Both have studied the issue in depth and come to radically different condusions. Here are their answers to our question, as well as their responses to each other.