5.18.2011 11:34 AM

USDA Slow to Release Pesticide Residue Data

The government data used to compile the annual "dirty dozen" foods list has yet to be released, and watchdogs are asking why.

Comments

Photo: Istock

By Dan Shapley

The Environmental Working Group, which compiles the popular Dirty Dozen Foods list based on government pesticide residue testing data, is leading a fight to get access to the latest round of USDA testing. (See The Daily Green's Dirty Dozen.)

Typically, according to the group, the government releases the data in January, but as of mid-May, the 2010 testing data is still locked up tight somewhere in the Department of Agriculture. The data has always been made public, even though the results typically show that pesticide residue on fruits and vegetables sold in the U.S. meets government thresholds. Watchdogs have publicized the data to highlight risks it perceives that go beyond those identified by U.S. law. Environmental Working Group publicizes a wallet guide and a mobile app and the Pesticide Action Network updates a user-friendly database searchable by food or pesticide at whatsonmyfood.org.

Advocates, including Dr. Philip Landrigan, a 2010 Heart of Green Award winner, have written to the USDA, urging a release of the data and increased attention to potential health effects on children's health from pesticide exposure: "Children," they wrote, "are uniquely sensitive to harmful effects from pesticides. Yet they eat substantial quantities of certain fresh fruits and vegetables – apples, berries, peaches, for example – proven to contain multiple pesticide residues. We urge you to expand testing programs and share ample information with the public about pesticides in all produce, especially those that show up in children's diets.”

It may seem hard to believe the USDA is stonewalling due to politics; Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan is considered the agency's strongest-ever advocate for local and organic foods, and First Lady Michelle Obama famously planted an organic garden that irked the pesticide industry. But, in a separate action, Environmental Working Group has requested, under the Freedom of Information law, USDA documents about communications it has had with the pesticide industry.

COMMENTS ()