‘Permitted’ levels of pesticides on our food may be harming our children, according to recent research, writes OLIVER MOORE
APPLES ARE sprayed with up to 48 pesticides, which are detectable even after 10 seconds of washing with water. Does this matter? Conventional wisdom says no – the levels are very much within the permitted range.
Tests find that a tiny percentage of foods, usually around 3 per cent, fall outside the rules. These foods either have levels slightly above legal limits or have traces of disallowed pesticides.
Recent research, however, has thrown something of a shadow over the safety of pesticides. Or, at least, it would cast such a shadow if anyone was paying attention to it.
Three studies published last year in one edition of the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives found negative developmental effects in children whose mothers had eaten foods with traces of pesticides on them while pregnant. And these mothers were within the bounds of normal exposure to pesticides.
Not only is this the top ranking monthly academic journal in public, environmental and occupational health, the three studies all use what is called a longitudinal birth cohort: in other words, tests began in the womb and continued at set intervals for months and years.
Two of the studies tested from in utero to seven years, the third to nine years.
What the studies found was that decrements in full-scale IQ, working memory and perceptual reasoning showed the most consistent associations with prenatal exposure to a common class of pesticides, organophosphates.
According to the journal’s editorial, by Kimberly Gray and Cindy P Lawler, “comparability of these results, despite differences in populations and exposure metrics, underscores the robustness of this latest group of findings”.
The editors also described the longitudinal cohort as “a design well suited to detect the evolution of exposure effects over time”.
Bouchard (et al 2011), one of the three studies referred to, also draws attention to poorer scores for processing speed and verbal comprehension in the children studied, as well as the IQ, memory and reasoning issues already outlined.
And the higher the traces of organophosphates, the worse the score: Children in the category corresponding to the highest 20 per cent of traces of organophosphates during pregnancy showed a seven-point decrease in full scale IQ compared with children of mothers in the lowest 20 per cent. Importantly, however, those with the highest traces were within the range of levels measured in the general population.
What do the authorities in Ireland make of this research? The Department of Health and Children suggested that the query put to them about the health of children, was more one for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
The Department of Agriculture “advised us that pesticide residues in food in Ireland and other European countries are controlled by European legislation, specifically Regulation 396 of 2005. Residues are controlled by maximum residue levels [MRLs] that should not be exceeded for individual pesticides.
“These MRLs are set following extensive evaluation of all currently available scientific knowledge by the European Food Safety Authority, whose most critical commitment is the provision of objective and independent science-based advice which underpins the European food safety system and provides the foundation for European policy and legislation.
“MRLs established in EU legislation are considered safe for all Irish and European consumers.”
So who knows? Perhaps in some months the advice on pesticides may change. In the meantime, the official advice is that pesticide residues are safe.
Of course, the consumer encounters more than just Irish produce in the local supermarket from an increasingly globalised food system.
As the rules on pesticides more strict in the EU, and to an extent in other developed countries such as the US, a vicious circle of sorts develops.
EU and US companies send the pesticides they can no longer sell at home to developing world countries. We then import food produced using pesticides banned in the EU, into the EU.
Meanwhile, Irish growers have to try to compete with this produce grown to what is essentially a different standard, while developing world producers, regions and the environment have to deal with the consequences of these far stronger pesticides.
In our daily food choices, we have decisions to make.
And in light of this recent research, some consumers may decide that, on balance, it’s worth going for the organic option. At least with the imports.
