Pesticides In Our Food

Pesticides in Our Food

by Mike Garfield

Is NutriClean Enough?

   In the past month, Farmer Jack, the largest supermarket chain in the Detroit area has blitzed consumers with their new answer to the pesticide safety question, the NutriClean pesticide residue testing program. The company acknowledges, in full-page newspaper ads, that there may be dietary dangers associated with eating fruits and vegetables with pesticide residue on them. Preferring "to be on the side of safety," Farmer Jack hired Nutriclean, an independent lab, to test selected items for pesticide residue. And, judging from con sumer response so far, executives believe this program is already one of the most successful promotions in corporate history.       Consumer activists and environmentalists have been warning shoppers a bout pesticide residues for years. Retailers time and again have turned a deaf ear, claiming that food sold in the U.S. undergoes spot inspections from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and complies with govemment standards. Has Farmer Jack's suddenly had second doubts? According lo Gilbert Borman, spokesperson for the chain, "consumer concern about pesticides just wasn't going away."

   This year the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council published Pesticide Alert, a review of FDA records. The records show that 48% of all produce tcsted in this country between (see PESTICIDES, page 10)

PESTICIDES (from page one)

1982 and 1985 had traces of pesticide residue. The news has begun to reach shoppers: a supermarket industry survey found that 76% of all consumers believe that pesticide residues are the most serious threat to the food supply.

   Scientists at the FDA still argue that consumer's fears are unfounded. Even if 48% of all produce items are tainted with some trace quantities of pesticides, they argue, only 3% to 6% have amounts in excess of "tolerance levels." But "excess" and "tolerance" are relative and arbitrary standards, not scientific criteria. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets tolerance levels for pesticide residues below which a food poses a legally acceptable risk.

   Critics charge that the tolerance setting process is heavily biased to accept unsafe risks for the benefit of chemical manufacturers. Growers are leaming the hard way. A huge shipment of Michigan blueberries was rejected by Swedish authorities this summer for excessive pesticide residues, depite the fact that they met U.S. standards.

   NutriClean certifies food with its seal of approval if their tests detect absolutely no pesticide residues. It should be said in their defense that they test for 129 of the highest-risk ingredients of 400 possible pesticide ingredients. And their lab tests are more stringent than the FDA's. But shoppers will only find the NutriClean seal of approval on a couple select items. Farmer Jack guarantees the safety of other items on the basis of spot checks. But these spot checks only pick out foods that carry FDA-defined "excessive" residue levels.

   If this all seems like a complicated way to ensure the safety of your carrots and grapefruits, rest assured that it will all be reflected in your grocery bills, along with the costs of the pesticides and other chemicals that growers use in the fields. The environmental costs to soils and waters and the suffering of farmworkers and farmers are less easily measured, and even more reason to be concerned.       There are other ways to farm than with pesticides. Some states have strongly promoted organically-grown foods, and some farmers have converted to low-chemical methods. But there is too much at stake in chemical agriculture to see fundamental changes at the retail level yet, and the NutriClean labs stand to benefit from continued use of chemical inputs. Borman claims that Farmer Jack "looked at organic foods and cannot locate enough steady large-scale suppliers." The lack of suppliers, however, has not detened chains on the east and west coasts from selling broad lines of organic produce. Yet wholesalers here estimate that over 50% of all organic growers in the midwest cannot find markets for their wares.    Farmer Jack states in its literature that many of the pesticide "fears are unfounded; independent testing provides us with the tools we need to help put these fears to rest in a scientifïc, objective manner." When NutriClean began its program in Califronia last year with a smaller chain, growers and retail competitors were furious that the pesticide issue was being raised openly, and hauled the lab into court. The litigation continues, but Farmer Jack and two other supermarket industry giants have now come around to embrace the testing program. Borman says that consumer response to the certification program has been highly enthusiastic. The question is, will shoppers start asking pointed questions about everything else on the shelves?

   Take this display of heightened industry P. R. about pesticide safety to push your grocer further. Write a letter today to our two local supermarket corporations, and ask them to test market organics.

   Write to: Mr. Marvin Biltis, President, Farmer Jack, Borman's Inc., P.O. Box 33446, Detroit, Ml 48232; and Mr. Lyle Everringham, Chairman, Kroger Co, 1014 Vine St, Cincinnati, OH 45201.

   Thank Farmer Jack's for the NutriClean program and ask them to go that extra step and stock organic produce. Tell Kroger that you like NutriClean, but food grown without pesticides would be best. The Pesticide Task Force, a volunteer-based group at the Ecology Center, has been urging grocers to expand markets for organic growers and foods. For more information, call Mike Garfield or Teresa Schneider at the Ecology Center, 761-3186.