Petition calls for US actions to lower pesticide residues in food

The US should review policies that allow major food crops to be sprayed directly with herbicides shortly before harvest, and should tighten related policies that allow for high levels of residues of those pesticides in finished food products, according to a petition filed Thursday with the government regulators.

The petition from the Center for Biological Diversity calls on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take a series of actions to address the “serious threat to human and environmental health” the group said is posed by existing policies around pesticide residues and the practice of using weed killers to desiccate – or dry down – wheat, oats, barley and other crops to make harvesting the crops easier.

Neither the EPA nor HHS responded to a request for comment.

Links to disease

The weed killer most commonly used as a desiccant is glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. The chemical has been associated with cancer and other health problems in humans. Other weed killers used as desiccants similarly have been linked to disease in humans.

“The EPA’s decision to allow our food to be sprayed with pesticides right before harvest pretty much guarantees greater exposure to dangerous chemicals in our daily meals,” Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the center, said in a statement. “It’s outrageous and completely out of line with good science and basic common sense.”

The petition comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order  in June advancing regenerative agriculture that included a directive for the EPA to ensure pre-harvest desiccant pesticide use is in compliance with current statutes and regulations.

The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement has also pressed the administration to address desiccation, specifically seeking a ban on the use of glyphosate as a desiccant. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose nomination to the office was supported by MAHA members, has been sharply critical of the use of glyphosate as a desiccant. He also called for a ban on the practice before he took office.

Glyphosate is widely used during the growing season as well, sprayed directly over genetically altered crops such as corn and soybeans that are designed to tolerate the chemical. Farmers do this as a way to kill weed without harming the crops.

Long-standing concern

Pesticide residues found in food have been a long-standing concern for health advocates.

It is common for conventional farmers to use a range of pesticides, including herbicides, insecticides and fungicides on their fields as a means to fight weeds, bugs and plant diseases. Residues of these chemicals are found not only in food but often in drinking water as well.

Each year, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) report the results of pesticide residue sampling of foods consumed by Americans, routinely finding pesticides contaminating foods consumers generally consider healthy such as fruits and vegetables, as well as grain-based foods. Strawberries, for example, often are found to contain residues of multiple pesticides.

The EPA sets legal limits, referred to as “maximum residue limits” (MRLs) for pesticide residues on foods. The FDA and USDA maintain that if residues are below the established MRLs, they are legal and safe. But many scientists and medical professionals disagree, saying regulatory methods are outdated and too dependent on input from the chemical industry players selling the pesticides when setting the legal limits for residues.

Critics also object to the fact that the EPA often declines to apply an additional tenfold margin of safety for infants and children when setting the legal levels for certain pesticide residues as is called for by law.

The FDA’s most recent sampling report showed that pesticide residues were present in over 60% of the foods analyzed, though the agency said less than 2% of domestic samples were in violation of residue limits and roughly 15% of imported foods were in violation.

Changes demanded

The petition calls on EPA and the FDA – part of HHS – to take the following actions:

• Do a joint review of the risks and benefits of pre-harvest desiccation.
• Reassess existing tolerance levels for the herbicides used as desiccants, including lowering glyphosate tolerances to no more than 0.05 parts per million.
• Conduct a review of the long-term health risks from dietary exposure to residues of herbicides used as desiccants.
• Initiate rulemaking to strengthen the government’s pesticide residue monitoring program and tolerance setting practices.

“Americans deserve to have the safest and most abundant food in the world. Protecting the quality and integrity of our daily bread and what we feed our children is one of the government’s most sacred duties,” the petition states.