Introduction
to: Pesticides in Children's Foods Methods:
Updating the CU Scoring SchemeHighlights
of Results of the 1998 PDP Analysis
Pesticides in Children's Foods1
Highlight of Results
Scores for Individual
Foods || Imported
vs. Domestic Produce
An In-Depth Comparison: Tomatoes || Fresh vs. Processed Foods
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1. Scores for Individual
Foods
Table 4 presents the 1998 results (along with the recalculated
scores for the previous four years). Table 5 breaks down
the TI scores for each food, and shows which residues were
found
in each food,
with what frequency, at what level, and what each residue contributes
to the overall TI for the food.
The 1998 PDP survey included additional data on several foods
tested in 1997 or prior years—apple juice, orange juice,
milk, canned/frozen green beans, pears, canned spinach, tomatoes,
winter squash, soybeans. It also included new foods, not previously
tested by PDP: Strawberries (fresh and frozen), grape juice,
and cantaloupe. As in each prior year, USDA tested imported
and domestically grown samples of the foods in rough proportion
to their share of the market. Our analysis, as for prior
years, showed several foods with very low TI’s, and
several with high TI’s. First, the good news:
Milk,
and processed juices kids like to drink, had very low scores.
As in past years, milk and orange juice were extremely “clean,” with
1998 scores of 2 and 3, respectively. Grape juice can be added
to that category, with scores of 2 (for U.S. product) and
1 (for imports,
from Argentina.) Apple juice again had relatively low TI scores
(from 4 to 33, for samples from 6 countries; U.S. samples
scored 15), but apple juice contains five to ten times as
much residue-toxicity as the other juices tested.
On the other
hand, some other foods kids like to eat had high TI’s.
Three new foods tested this year—fresh and frozen strawberries,
and cantaloupe— scored over 100, our cutoff level for
calling a food high enough on the TI scale to be a concern
to parents. Both U.S. and Mexican fresh strawberries had high
scores (516, 729 respectively), putting them in the same category
with apples, peaches and pears tested in prior
years. Based on just this one year’s data, strawberries
would rank fifth, behind frozen winter squash, fresh peaches,
fresh winter squash and wheat
grain, among foods with the highest TI’s. The high scores
for strawberries reflect heavy pesticide use on this crop.
The PDP found 34 different pesticides on U.S. strawberries,
with
the carbamate insecticide methomyl accounting for almost
half the total score. Mexican strawberries had 17 different
residues, among which a fungicide, anilazine, accounts for
65 percent of the overall score. Frozen strawberries (U.S.)
had a lower score, but one still high enough to be a concern,
140.
Cantaloupe, the other new food tested in 1998, contained
fewer residues, but one of them, dieldrin, is especially
problematic. Dieldrin, a very toxic and carcinogenic insecticide
whose
use on crops was banned in 1974 but which persists in soils,
is taken up through the roots by members of the cucurbit
(melon and squash) family. Dieldrin accounted for two thirds
of the TI of 141 for cantaloupe from Mexico, and for 85
percent of the TI of 161 for U.S. cantaloupe.
As they did last
year, fresh and frozen U.S.-grown winter squash had high and
extremely high scores (732 and 3,366, respectively).
As was the case last year, the high scores are attributed
to residues of banned chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides
that remain in
soils where
the U.S. squash crop is produced—particularly, it appears,
where squash destined for processing is grown. Residues of
dieldrin, heptachlor and chlordane account for these high scores.
Winter squash from Mexico, by contrast, seems to be grown largely
on uncontaminated soils. Only one of
132 samples tested positive for dieldrin, and Mexican squash
had an overall TI of just 33.
Canned spinach (from the U.S.)
had a high score this year, at 213. The score reflects the
use of insecticides on this difficult-to-grow crop, with
permethrin accounting for most of the overall total.
The 1998
data for pears closely resemble the 1997 data, with the score
for Chilean pears dropping somewhat, and the score
for U.S. pears increasing, relative to (recalculated) scores
from last year. Pears from Argentina had the lowest scores,
but as was true last year, pears from all three countries,
with TIs of 175 (Argentina), 257 (Chile) and 327 (U.S.), are
on the “caution” list.
Canned/frozen green beans
had a lower score for 1998 than for 1997, for the most part
because of decreasing residues
of methyl parathion. But this food remains on the “caution” list,
with a 1998 score of 286, which is quite high for a processed
food.
U.S. tomatoes scored a 116, far better than the score
for Mexican tomatoes (472). Canadian tomatoes, though, had
a very low TI, just 12. Scores for tomatoes (including recalculated
scores for
1996
and 1997) are higher in this report than last year, reflecting
the revised EPA RfD for methamidophos, the dominant risk-driving
residue on the U.S. samples. Mexican tomatoes had more methamidophos
than U.S. grown tomatoes, and contain chlorpyrifos, and less
often, demeton-S sulfone, a metabolite of the insecticide demeton.
2.
Imported vs. Domestic Produce
Last year, we examined 39 cases over the four years of PDP
data in which we could compare a U.S.-grown food with imports
from a specific country. In 26 of those comparisons (67 percent),
the U.S.-grown food had the higher Toxicity Index. While the
differences were often slight, our examination of actual residue
data for imported and domestic
produce failed to support the popular stereotype that imported
foods are more likely to be contaminated. This assertion has
been fed over the years by self-serving statements from some
U.S. growers and “circle-of-poison” arguments from
environmental activists.
The 1998 PDP data provide 15 additional
direct comparisons between U.S.- grown and imported foods,
bringing the five year
total to 54 cases. Among the 1998 cases, U.S. foods “won” (had
the lower TI) in five cases, and U.S.- grown foods had higher
TI’s in eight cases. (Two cases
were ties.)
Because of changes in our scoring scheme and our
recalculation of past scores, there are a few cases in which
imported foods that had lower scores than U.S. samples in our
1999 report now have
higher scores. New Zealand apples now outscore U.S. apples
for 1995 and 1996, and Chilean pears for 1997 outscore U.S.
pears. These changes reflect a reduced score for methyl parathion
residues in U.S. samples, attributable
to our eliminating the ED factor for that insecticide, and
an increased score for chlorpyrifos in the imports, due to
the
EPA’s lowered RfD for that
chemical. All three years of comparisons between Canadian and
U.S. carrots have also changed. In 1999 we showed higher scores
for Canadian samples in all three years, but with the changes
in TIs for several residues, U.S. samples now have higher scores
for 1994 and 1996, and the 1995 scores are tied.
Counting the
additional cases and changes in past scores, the new totals
are as follows: Of 54 cases over the five-year period, U.S.-grown
foods have a higher Toxicity Index (i.e., the U.S. produce
has worse residue problems) in 33 cases (61 percent), and
imported foods have the higher TI in 18 cases (33 percent).
Three cases (6 percent) were ties. The ratio has shifted slightly
in the direction of equity; U.S. produce
has higher scores less often (61 versus 67 percent of the
cases) than we found last year. However, the data still fail
to support the view that imported foods have worse residue
problems.
In fact, the PDP data continue to show several cases,
all highlighted in our report last year, in which U.S.-grown
produce had
higher TI scores by a very wide margin than imported samples
did. These foods include fresh green beans, fresh peaches,
pears, spinach, and fresh and frozen winter squash. On the
other hand, there are several cases
where the imports are slightly or more than slightly worse
than U.S.
samples, but both U.S. and imported samples had high TI values.
These cases include apples, grapes, carrots, strawberries,
cantaloupe
and tomatoes. The difference is
greatest for tomatoes in 1998.
In only one case—broccoli, tested in 1994—did
U.S. samples have a very low TI score (6, as recalculated this
year)
while (Mexican) imports had a much greater score, 152.
Fruit
juices provide some interesting comparisons. Both orange
juice and grape juice have scores among the lowest received
by any foods, regardless of where samples come from. In
1998 tests, grape juice from Argentina scored a 1, and U.S.
samples a 2; for orange
juice,
the U.S., Mexico and Brazil all tied at 3. (In 1997, Brazilian
orange juice had a higher score, 21.) Apple juice provided
a bit more in the
way of contrasts, with scores that ranged from lows of 4
and 7 (Germany and Chile), to highs of 21 and 33 (Argentina
and China). U.S. samples were in the middle of the pack, at
15.
The Chinese apple juice is especially interesting. China
is just beginning to penetrate the U.S. market for apple juice,
and U.S. producers are feeling the competition. The U.S.
industry has been abuzz with rumors that Chinese juice is
loaded with residues. As this year’s PDP data
(on just 11 samples) suggest, however, that does not appear
to be the case. While Chinese apple juice did have the worst
score among the six countries from which samples were tested
this year, the score (33) is still quite low. A 33 is comparable
to scores for juice from Argentina (34) and Hungary (32) in
1997, and is within the range of “normal” for apple
juice. We will have to await another year or two of PDP data
on Chinese apple juice before we can conclude that imports
from China generally have higher residues than those found
in apple
juice from the U.S. or other countries that export juice here.
3.
An In-Depth Comparison: Tomatoes
Tomatoes offer one of the few contrasts between U.S. and imported
foods in which residues on imports (from Mexico) are a much
greater problem than residues on U.S.-grown samples. In 1998,
the PDP
tested 717 samples of fresh Tomatoes. Origin data indicate
that 240 samples came from Mexico, 23 samples from Canada,
and 431 from domestic growers. Among the U.S. samples, the
PDP
tested enough from the two leading
U.S. tomato-growing states, Florida (177 samples) and California
(121 samples) to support an additional analysis of regional
differences in residue patterns.
Table 6 extracts the Tomato
data from Table 5, and further breaks down the U.S. samples
into those from California and Florida. Our TI scores for tomatoes
(from all sources) are considerably higher this year than they
were in last year’s report; recalculated scores for tomatoes
tested in 1996 and 1997 (in Table 4) are much higher as well.
Scores went up because the EPA sharply reduced its chronic
Reference Doses for methamidophos and chlorpyrifos, two organophosphate
insecticides that account for most of the total TIs for both
imported and
domestic
tomatoes.
The TI scores for 1998 tomatoes are 472 for Mexican
samples, 116 for U.S. samples, and 12 for Canadian samples.
Within\ the U.S. samples, the total TIs for samples from
Florida (119) and California (109) were quite close. In all
three cases, methamidophos and chlorpyrifos accounted for the
majority of the Toxicity Index. Mexican tomatoes also contained
demeton-S sulfone, an insecticide metabolite found on one of
17 samples tested. That solitary residue accounts for 41 percent
of the total
TI for the Mexican samples, while methamidophos (found on
37 percent of samples) and chlorpyrifos (found on 31 percent)
combined to account for 53 percent of the total.
California
and Florida tomatoes have quite similar residue profiles,
with methamidophos accounting for 90 percent of
the California score and 76 percent of the Florida score.
Chlorpyrifos contributes 14 percent of the total TI in
Florida samples, only 3 percent in California samples. Methamidophos
is used primarily for aphid control, and chlorpyrifos is used
against several common insect pests of tomatoes. U.S.
tomato
growers have actively sought less toxic alternatives to these
insecticides, and have made notable progress toward effective
lower-risk pest management. In fact, the TI scores for U.S.
tomatoes have declined over the three years
the PDP has tested them, from 218 in 1996, to 205 in 1997,
and 116 in 1998. We believe these declining scores reflect
a real trend and should continue
to
drop, as safer insect pest-management alternatives come
onto the market.
The Canadian samples, which represent a very
small fraction of the U.S. market, contain neither methamidophos
nor chlorpyrifos
residues, and in general have few residues at all. This
reflects the very different growing conditions in Canada and
the absence
of pest pressures that affect tomato production in the
other regions.
4. Fresh vs. Processed Foods
As we observed last year, highly processed fruit juices have
low to very low TI’s, although there is an order-of-magnitude
difference between apple juice and the other juices tested
(or milk).
Frozen strawberries have a TI about one-fourth as high as fresh
(140, vs. 500-700). But not all of the processed foods have
low TI scores. Canned and frozen
green beans (286), canned spinach (213) and frozen winter squash
(3,366) all fall into our “concern” category,
with the amount of concern that is justified rising in proportion
to the TI.1
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