the environment. Pesticide residues on food must be safe with a reasonable certainty
that no harm will result from aggregate pesticide exposure. But does this mean that
pesticides, by a common-sense definition, are safe? No.
Probably the simplest way to evaluate whether registration means pesticides are safe
is to examine recently registered pesticides to see if they meet an acceptable level of
safety. As newly registered pesticides, they should adhere to all current standards.
The EPA evaluated nineteen conventional pesticides registered since 1997 and
found that most of them pose substantial hazards. Seven cause cancer and six lead to
genetic damage. One induces miscarriages, one results in birth defects, one brings on
cataracts, one produces bone marrow abnormalities, two are neurotoxic, and one
causes both liver and kidney damage. Eight are toxic to fish, five to juvenile fish and
three to adult fish. Five have characteristics of groundwater contaminants. Two are
highly toxic to oysters, and one to shrimp.^65
Clearly, these pesticides are far from safe by any common-sense definition. In addi-
tion to the known negative effects of pesticides on human health and the environ-
ment, there are many effects that are poorly understood. In the United States,
decisions on the regulation of pesticides are not based on whether they are safe, but
are made via cost-benefit analyses, whereby the financial benefits to industry outweigh
the cost to society in human health and environmental damage. Consumers and tax-
payers are the ones who pay the price.
The Regulatory Authorities Myth
The greatest myth is that government regulatory authorities ensure agricultural
poisons are used safely and cause no adverse health or environmental problems. His-
tory shows that regulatory authorities have consistently failed to prevent the contami-
nation of the environment and threats to human health by products previously said
to be safe. Think of asbestos, lead, mercury, dioxins, PCBs, DDT, dieldrin, and other
persistent organic pollutants (POPs). These products were not (and are still not in
many cases) withdrawn until decades after solid scientific evidence demonstrated their
damage. Regulatory authorities in the United States (and for that matter, the entire
world) seem to be ignoring a large body of published science showing that the cur-
rent methods of determining the safety of the agricultural poisons are grossly
inadequate.
The Pesticide Myth
For fifty years, farmers and the general public have been told that chemical pesti-
cides are essential for modern farming and to feed the world’s population. This sim-
ply isn’t true. Pesticides weaken the ecosystem that has sustained human agriculture
for thousands of years, damaging soil microbes and eliminating beneficial insects and
predators. In addition, pests continually mutate to become pesticide resistant. Despite
a tenfold increase in insecticide use in recent years, research has demonstrated a pro-
liferation of pests.
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