Press Release March 3, 1998	Contact: 202/462-6262 Jeannine Kenney, kennje@consumer.org Kathleen McShea, mcshka@consumer.org Consumer Union Washington, D. C. Office

Consumers Criticize Awaited EPA Supermarket Flyer on Pesticides

"Right to Know" Brochure Due to Hit Shopping Markets this August

WASHINGTON -- A consumer brochure taking shape at the Environmental Protection Agency about pesticide residues on food which is scheduled to hit supermarket shelves across the nation this August is "seriously flawed" and needs a rewrite, according to an early critique by Consumers Union.

"The law requires the EPA to print a brochure to provide consumers with information about both risks and benefits of pesticides, but the brochure has been drafted to pacify consumers, not to inform them" said Jeannine Kenney, Policy Analyst for Pesticides at CU, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.

In a letter filed with the EPA, CU says the doublespeak peppered throughout the eight page document is particularly troubling. For example, the EPA uses the word "substances" to describe pesticides. CU suggests more accurate language like "poisons" or "toxic substances." Kenney told EPA its use of this language is peculiar given the agency's mandate to regulate pesticides because of their toxicity, not because they are common "substances."

"Euphemisms occur through the text of the draft brochure," Kenney wrote. "They may confuse the reader and obscure the meaning of the information provided. EPA should replace these words with text that more clearly conveys the intended message."

CU also is sharply critical of a section entitled "Are Pesticides Harmful?" Kenney writes, this section "fails to clearly state why pesticides can be harmful to humans, omits information clearly describing the sources of exposure and fails to inform consumers that risk rises as exposure increases." CU also wants the EPA to point out that "infants and children may be more vulnerable to pesticides because their bodies are still developing and because they consume more pesticides relative to adults."

The upcoming brochure breaks new ground for what the federal government is committed to do to inform consumers about the safety of the food supply, and the comment period for the first draft closed on Monday, March 2. The EPA is required to print a "Right to Know" brochure on the risks and benefits of pesticides by a landmark food safety law, which passed Congress without dissent in the summer of 1996, called the Food Quality Protection Act.

At the heart of new law is a strict new health standard, designed to protect kids, which was prompted by a 1993 report by the National Research Council, Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children. This report found that existing EPA standards for setting allowable pesticide residue limits did not consider the unique vulnerabilities and exposures of infants and children. The new law will obligate the EPA to set an updated standard for how much pesticide residue is allowed on food. The agency will be reviewing the most hazardous pesticides over the next year and a half. This review may lead to the reduction in use or cancellation of some of the riskiest pesticides.

Among the concerns Kenney shared with the agency in her comments to the draft brochure was that as currently written it gives consumers "false assurances" that the new law has already improved the safety of pesticides used on food. In fact, for most pesticides, the higher standards required by the new law have not yet been put into place and a full fledged assault to delay and obstruct the law's implementation is now underway by agri-chemical interests.

CU is also encouraging the EPA to make several important modifications to the consumer tips offered for reducing pesticide risk.

NOTE: A full copy of the CU letter to the EPA on the draft brochure is available on our fax back line at 202/462-7705, document number 3801