by children under six years of age. Pesticides also contribute to long-term health prob-
lems in the people and communities who are exposed. Although laws have been passed
to address pesticide misuse, those laws are often ignored or underenforced.
Today, individuals or businesses who violate pesticide laws frequently escape with
tiny fines, or without paying any penalty at all. Unless wrongdoers receive meaningful
fines, they have little incentive to comply with the law, and implicitly are encouraged
to risk the public’s health simply to gain an economic advantage over their law-
abiding competitors. Even when a pesticide poisoning is diagnosed, the government’s
inquiry into the cause often takes far too long to complete, if it is finished at all.
Delayed and incomplete investigations allow violators to escape detection, make the
cause of the poisoning more difficult to find, and mean that some exposed people
may never be identified. Appropriate penalties should be levied for pesticide-related
violations that create health or environmental hazards, or pose a reasonable possibility
of affecting health or the environment. Prompt and meaningful punishment for vio-
lators would remove the competitive advantage gained by businesses that currently
cut corners in violation of the law, and would help prevent the illegal conduct that
causes human health hazards in the first place.^56
Pesticide Residues and Tolerances
A pesticide residue is the amount of pesticide on a food commodity after an appli-
cation. A tolerance is the legal limit of pesticide residue allowed in or on a raw agri-
cultural commodity and, in appropriate cases, on processed foods. The EPA sets
tolerances to ensure pesticide residues are at safe levels. A tolerance is established
through a process known as risk assessment. A tolerance must be established for any
pesticide used on any crop. If the level of pesticide residues exceeds the tolerance,
then the food is an illegal sale. The FDA and USDA are the agencies responsible for
inspecting food and enforcing tolerances. If food is found to have pesticide residues
exceeding an established tolerance, it is confiscated and destroyed.^57
Food Residues
To what extent is our food contaminated with pesticide residues, and how much of
a hazard is this? Long-lived pesticides such as DDT, other organochlorines, and para-
thion are most likely to leave persistent residues. Even though most persistent resi-
dues are banned in the United States and other wealthy countries, they are still
present where previously used, are still used elsewhere, and show up on foods.
Others, such as organophosphates, tend to break down so rapidly that they are
unlikely to contaminate food unless applied to crops very close to harvest time. How-
ever, they are often more acutely toxic. Approved pesticides leave little residue on
crops when used according to directions. National and international standards of ac-
ceptable residue levels are based on approved usage and maximum acceptable daily
intake (MADI) levels; thus, theoretically, foods should be safe. However, it is not
practical to monitor all crops and food shipments, residues are not always detected
The Pesticide Problem | 17