It remains to be seen which pesticides survive the upcoming process of elimination. Yet even EPA Administrator Carol Browner has, in the past, given us reason to be fearful. By doing that, we will automatically reduce risks and we won t have to spend all this time worrying about lots of complicated things. Banning pesticides through the Food Quality Protection Act does little to protect consumers. Regulators should be required to consider and weigh the risks of pesticides against the risks of eliminating those pesticides.
Consumers deserve no less.
Dana Joel Gattuso is an adjunct fellow with Consumer Alert. Most important, the Committee considered the impact of potential increases in exposure to pesticides through increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and concluded that despite consideration of worst-case hypothetic scenarios, the benefit of dietary modification to include more fruits and vegetables far outweigh the potential for adverse effects which is minimal, if any.