Measure E8: Pesticide Residues on Foods Frequently Consumed by Children

Children may be exposed to pesticides and other contaminants in their food and through day-to-day activities around the home. EPA regulates the amounts of pesticides in food, termed “residues,” through standards called “food tolerances.” A tolerance is a legal limit on the amount of pesticide residue in a particular food. Children’s exposures to pesticides may be higher than the exposures of most adults. Pound for pound, children generally eat more than adults, and they may be exposed more heavily to certain pesticides because they consume a diet different from that of adults.¹ Among the agricultural commodities that are consumed by children in large amounts are apples, corn, oranges, rice, and wheat.

Organophosphate pesticides frequently are applied to many of the foods important in children’s diets, and certain organophosphate pesticide residues can be detected in small quantities. When exposure to organophosphate pesticides is sufficiently high, they interfere with the proper functioning of the nervous system.² There are approximately 40 organophosphates, and as a group they account for approximately half of the insecticide use in the United States. The majority of organophosphate use is on food crops—including corn, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. In addition, organophosphate pesticides often have been used in and around the home. Examples of organophosphate pesticides include chlorpyrifos, azinphos methyl, methyl parathion, and phosmet.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) collects annual data on pesticide residues in food. Among the foods sampled by the USDA’s Pesticide Data Program in recent years are several that are important parts of children’s diets, including apples, apple juice, bananas, carrots, green beans, orange juice, peaches, pears, potatoes, and tomatoes.

Measure E8 displays the percentage of fruits, vegetables, grains, and other food and drink products with detectable organophosphate pesticide residues reported by the Pesticide Data Program from 1994 to 2008. The 34 organophosphates that were sampled in each of these years are included; other organophosphates that have been added to the program in recent years are excluded so that the chart represents a consistent set of pesticides for all years shown. This measure is a surrogate for children’s exposure to pesticides in foods: If the frequency of detectable levels of pesticides in foods decreases, it is likely that exposures will decrease. However, this measure does not account for many additional factors that affect the risk to children. For example, some organophosphates pose greater risks to children than others do, and residues on some foods may pose greater risks than residues on other foods due to differences in amounts consumed. In addition, year-to-year changes in the percentage of samples with detectable pesticide residues may be affected by changes in the selection of foods that are sampled each year.

In accordance with the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996, EPA currently is reassessing all food tolerances to assure that they comply with the FQPA’s “reasonable certainty of no harm” standard, with a particular focus on protecting children’s health. EPA has concluded that a substantial portion of the existing tolerances for organophosphate pesticides meet the stringent safety standards of the FQPA and that a significant portion of the potential exposure to organophosphate pesticides is associated with only a small number of uses of these compounds.

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1. National Research Council. 1993. Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. http://www.nap.edu/catalog/2126.html?se_side.
   
   
2. B. Eskenazi, A. Bradman and R. Castorina. 1999. Exposures of children to organophosphate pesticides and their potential adverse health effects. Environmental Health Perspectives 107 (Suppl. 3):409-19.

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