Foods and children's environmental health
The Food Quality Protection Act
and the Government's Role

In 1996, the U.S. Congress unanimously passed The Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), a law largely intended to protect children from pesticide exposure. This law requires, for the first time, that the federal government consider the unique vulnerability of infants and children to toxic substances when it determines allowable levels (called “tolerances”) of pesticide residue in foods.

In more general terms, the FQPA dramatically transformed a key element of federal pesticide regulation that had been used for tolerance setting. Whereas the policy of registering chemicals for use on foods had been based on balancing risks and benefits, it now must follow a more explicitly health-based mission. With the FQPA, the EPA is required to ensure that every pesticide exposure have a “reasonable certainty of no harm.” 

This replaced the EPA’s previous mandates, which had allowed pesticide uses that were already approved to remain on the market unless EPA could show that their risks outweighed their benefits. Now all of those pesticides must be re-evaluated according to a higher and healthier standard. Fundamentally, the FQPA changed the two basic laws in the United States that deal with food safety and pesticide use: the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

The FQPA has survived attempts in Congress since then to dilute its power, and it has even resulted in some progress toward assessing the risk of the most dangerous pesticides to children. This includes the phase-out of two high-risk organophosphate pesticides, Dursban and Diazinon, which was announced in 2000 and which Generation Green helped draw attention to through thousands of signatures and letters. Overall, though, the progress has been slow-going, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been painstakingly examining chemicals on a pesticide-by-pesticide basis rather than as entire classes.

Organizations like Generation Green and Consumers Union feel the EPA should be proud that it has, so far, eliminated more than a third of the overall pesticide risk through its FQPA-related work. However, that means that nearly two-thirds of the overall risk remains to be addressed. And the EPA is supposed to fulfill the mandates of the FQPA by 2006, which doesn’t leave much time. If the current rate of progress and funding for research doesn’t increase, it may not be enough time.

Carbamates have been a particular concern for Generation Green, and they remain the focus of our current efforts to ensure that the EPA continues real forward momentum in fulfilling the letter and the spirit of the FQPA. Residues of pesticides in the carbamate group are often found on foods that are commonly eaten by children and, like organophosphates, they are toxic to the nervous system. The risk of subtle adverse effects on the developing nervous system in children, which might show up later in life as learning difficulties or behavioral problems.

Cumulative Risk: Carbamates and organophosphates share a common mechanism of action, inhibiting enzymes that play a vital role in the transmission of nerve signals. Since they act and react the same way, regulating each pesticide individually does not adequately address the exposure. FQPA requires the EPA to look at the “cumulative risk” of all pesticides that share a common mechanism. Unfortunately, EPA has not yet finished developing a procedure for doing this.

Aggregate Risk: Nine of the twenty-two foods most commonly eaten by children are grown using carbamates and organophosphates. FQPA requires the EPA to take into account children’s higher exposure when setting policy.

Ten-Fold Safety Standard: Complete data on exposure levels and risks from pesticides simply does not exist, in part because most studies have focused on tolerances for adult males. However, FQPA requires the EPA to add a tenfold safety factor when they do not have complete data on risks of exposure for children.

So far, the EPA has not made much movement on the carbamate issue in any of the above areas. As other pesticides are phased out, the use of carbamates might increase to fill the “void” left by other dangerous chemicals, so we need to act now to apply pressure to the EPA.

To help to action on this issue, click here for the address of the EPA administrator and a sample letter.

For more detailed information on the FQPA and issues related to it, use these links:

Consumers Union  

Children’s Environmental Health Network  

National Pesticide Information Center