These nutrients can help lower the risk of cancer and heart disease. Yet, many people today are concerned about pesticides in foods and the increased risk to health that they may pose. Pesticides are used to prevent pest damage and loss of crop. Then, a safety factor of 100 times the amount deemed to be safe is built in to the level allowed. But because there is great variation in how plants respond to pesticides, weather, and growing conditions, as well as the food people eat, scientists at EPA must use many assumptions to set these pesticide limits.
Children eat more food relative to their body weight than do adults.
Children may also handle pesticides differently from adults. This may result in health risks from pesticides that are lower or higher than for adults. The EPA takes these differences into account when making assumptions and setting limits on pesticide use. A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences recommends changes in some of the assumptions made and calls for better information about residues in food and how much children eat. Most fruits and vegetables consumed by children have no pesticide residues or have residues hundreds of times below the level allowed.