from Sunday Herald, 26 October 2008
Food on sale across Europe has been contaminated by record levels of toxic pesticides, according to a draft report for the European Commission.
Half of the fruit, vegetables and cereals tested in 28 countries - including the UK and Scotland - was found to contain traces of pesticides. Amongst the worst contaminated were grapes, bananas, peppers and aubergines.
More than 2,500 samples - nearly five per cent - had levels in breach of safety limits. Altogether 354 different pesticides were detected, 23 of them at levels officially judged as a health risk.
Early next month the environment committee of the European Parliament is due to vote on a new law which could ban the use of the more hazardous pesticides. But this is being fiercely resisted by the pesticides industry, which says it would force up food prices.
Against this background EC officials have drafted a report summarising monitoring results for residues of pesticides in food sold in the European Union, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein during 2006. A copy of the report, which has yet to be published, has been seen by the Sunday Herald (and can be downloaded below).
It shows that 49% of more than 55,000 samples of fruits, vegetables and cereals contained pesticides. This is said to be the highest level of contamination recorded in the European Union, and 20% higher than over the last five year period.
“These are the worst pesticide results we've ever seen”, said Elliott Cannell, the co-ordinator of the Pesticides Action Network in Europe. Five of the pesticides most common in the food chain were classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or disruptive to the hormonal system, he alleged.
“The need to reduce exposure to hazardous pesticides is more urgent now than ever,” argued Cannell. “Politicians in Brussels must back the removal of the worst pesticides from the food chain, and ensure that hazardous pesticides are replaced with safer alternatives wherever possible.”
More than one in ten food samples across Europe were found to contain four or more pesticides. In total, 4.7% of fruits, vegetables and cereals had pesticide concentrations above the legal ‘maximum residue levels’ set to protect human health.
For the first time, a controversial pesticide known as imidacloprid was listed as one of the more common pesticide residues found in foods. It has been banned in France because of fears it may have helped cause the mass death of bees.
More recent monitoring by the UK government’s Pesticide Residues Committee discovered that 52% of the fruit and vegetables on sale in the UK in 2007 was contaminated. They included grapes, lettuce, apples, pears, strawberries and citrus fruits.
Nearly three per cent contained concentrations above the permitted safety levels, including samples of curled parsley bought from Tesco in Stirling, peaches from Somerfield in Edinburgh and passion fruit from Asda in Edinburgh.
Cannell pointed out, though, that some supermarkets were now taking action to reduce the levels of pesticides in the food they sell. Marks and Spencer had produced its own blacklist, while Sainsbury's and the Cooperative were working to eliminate the most hazardous substances from their supply chains.
But pesticide manufacturers accused campaigners of trying to create a “climate of fear”. The apparent increase was just a “spike” caused by harmonising the collection of monitoring results from across Europe, they claimed.
“Presenting the figures as being of concern is unfounded”, said the director general of the European Crop Protection Association, Friedhelm Schmider. “The figures mentioned are in line with last year's report.”
He stressed that that EU agriculture was highly successful and safe, and warned that removing large numbers of pesticides from the market would put up the cost of food. “Consumers today benefit from a longer life expectancy than any previous generation,” he stated.
Download a copy of the European Commission report on pesticide residues here (1.5MB Word).
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