Of course, human testing of pharmaceuticals is not only routine but required by law prior to FDA approval. Whereas with drugs, they try to see how much humans will tolerate. They really zap some people with these drugs. This is sophistry. People don't benefit from ingesting a pesticide, but they do benefit from its use.
Pesticides make food safer by preventing the growth of toxin-generating molds.
They also make produce less expensive and more appealing no small matter in a country where less than a tenth of the population consumes fruits and vegetables in the recommended amounts. Since more than 200 epidemiological studies have shown an association between low produce consumption and cancer risk, it seems likely that the anti-pesticide crusade is harming people's health rather than protecting it. Although the EWG's report was nonsense from beginning to end, such documents have the power to intimidate. Because the suspicion that the agency takes its marching orders from environmental groups is largely correct. To a regulator, the tougher the law, the better.