"E.P.A. Dilutes Its Pamphlet on Pesticides"

[Marcia Carroll <marcia@essential.org>]

"E.P.A. Dilutes Its Pamphlet on Pesticides.  Industry Applied Pressure
for Change."  New York Times, 30 December 98, A10.

EPA's new brochure about pesticides and food will be available in
grocery stores in January, five months after the deadline set by a food
safety law passed by Congress in 1996.  EPA revised an earlier version
of the brochure after pressure from the food industry.  Among the
changes:  the title has been  changed from "`Pesticides on Food'" to
"`Pesticides and Food'"; a section suggesting that consumers concerned
about pesticides should consider buying "`"certified organic"'" food has
been changed to read "`your grocer may be able to provide you with
information about the availability of food grown using fewer or no
pesticides'"; a section on health risks says "`studies show that some
pesticides cause health problems at certain levels of exposure," but
omits this statement from the
earlier version:  "`Some pesticides have been shown to cause health
problems such as birth defects, nerve damage, cancer and other toxic
effects in laboratory animals.'"  Consumers Union called the new
brochure "`a propaganda piece for the food industry.'"  The Grocery
Manufacturers of America still opposes the new brochure because "`it
still promotes organic foods in a brochure that was supposed to be about
pesticides.'"  EPA plans to post more information about pesticides and
food on its Web site.


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