United States pesticide residues

Pesticides are more closely regulated than other chemicals because pesticides are intentiaHy appHed in the environment, often repeatedly at relatively high rates. In the United States, pesticides are regulated under the federal Insecticide, fungicide and Rodenticide Act (EIERA), and residues from uses of pesticides in food or feed crops are regulated under Sections 408 and 409 of the federal food, Dmg and Cosmetics Act (EEDCA). 

The FDA has pubhshed methods for the deterrnination of residual solvents in spice extracts such as oleoresins and has limited the concentrations of those specific solvents that are permitted. Chlorinated hydrocarbons and benzene have been almost completely removed from use as extracting solvents in the United States their use continues overseas where toxicity regulations are less stringent. The presence of pesticides or herbicides in spices is rigidly controHed by the FDA. 

When illegal residues have been found in monitoring studies conducted by the FDA or USD A, the reason has often been that no U.S. tolerance had been requested for that particular pesticide in that specific crop. For example, an imported crop would be deemed to be adulterated and would be seized at the port of entry into the United States if found to contain a pesticide residue in the absence of a tolerance in that crop. This is so even if tolerances have been set for the same pesticide in several crops grown in the United States and the pesticide had been used to control a pest that does not exist in the United States. Furthermore, an international maximum residue level (MRL) might already have been estabUshed for that pesticide—crop combination under the Codex system of standards for food of importance in international trade. The U.S. GAO issued two reports on food safety and pesticides in 1991 (89,90). 

The solubility of methyl parathion is not sufficient to pose a problem in runoff water as determined by an empirical model of Wauchope and Leonard (1980). Some recent monitoring data, however, indicate that methyl parathion has been detected in surface waters (Senseman et al. 1997). In a study to determine the residue levels of pesticides in shallow groundwater of the United States, water samples from 1,012 wells and 22 springs were analyzed for methyl parathion. No methyl parathion was detected in any of the water samples (Kolpin et al. 1998). In a study of water from near-surface aquifers in the Midwest, no methyl parathion was detected in any of the water samples from 94 wells that were analyzed for pesticide levels (Kolpin et al. 1995). Leaching to groundwater does not appear to be a significant fate process. 

An extensive study was undertaken to determine if pesticide residues are present in any infant formula products (Gelardi and Mountford 1993). Milk- and soy-based formulas were analyzed, as was the water used to make the formula. No pesticide residues, including methyl parathion, were detected in any infant formula manufactured in the United States. Thus, it does not appear that infants will be exposed to... 

Carey AE, Douglas P, Tai H, et al. 1979a. Pesticide residue concentrations in soils of five United States cities, 1971-Urban Soils Monitoring Program. Pestic Monit J 13 17-22. 

Duggan RE, Lipscomb GQ, Cox EL, et al. 1971. Pesticide residue levels in foods in the United States from July 1, 1963 to June 30, 1969. Pestic Monit J 5 73-212. 

Groth, E., Benbrook, C. M. and Benbrook K.L. (2000). Pesticide Residues in Children s Food. Consumers Union of the United States, Yonkers, NY. 

Bunck, C.M., R.M. Prouty, and A.J. Krynitsky. 1987. Residues of organochlorine pesticides and polychloro-biphenyls in starlings (Stumus vulgaris), from the continental United States, 1982. Environ. Monitor. Assess. 8 59-75. 

Pentachlorophenol-contaminated air, rain, snow, surface waters, drinking waters, groundwaters, and aquatic biota are common in the United States (Table 23.3) (Pignatello et al. 1983 Choudhury et al. 1986). Residues of PCP in food, water, and mammalian tissues may result from the direct use of PCP as a wood preservative and pesticide, or as a result of the use of other chemicals that... 

Ludke, J.L. and C.J. Schmitt. 1980. Monitoring contaminant residues in freshwater fishes in the United States the National Pesticide Monitoring Program. Pages 97-110 in W.R. Swain and V.R. Shannon (eds). Proc. 3rd U.S.-U.S.S.R. Symp. Effects of Pollutants upon Aquatic Ecosystems. U.S. Environ. Protection Agency Rep. 600/9-80-034. 

Other studies further indicate that the occurrence of endrin in the U.S. food supply is very low. In a 1990-91 FDA survey of pesticide residues in milk representing most of the U.S. supply consumed in metropolitan areas, endrin was detected at trace levels (0.0005-0.001 ppm [0.5-1.0 ppb]) in only 2 of 806 composite samples (one sample each from Atlanta, Georgia and Dover, Delaware) (Trotter and Dickerson 1993). In another statistically based FDA study in 1992-93, endrin was not found as a violative residue in any of 710 domestic or 949 imported pear samples (Roy et al. 1995). Endrin was not reported among the pesticides detected in a 1994 FDA survey of pesticide levels in 160 samples of catfish, crayfish, shrimp, trout, salmon, oysters, and various other species from important aquaculture areas of the United States (FDA 1995). Comparable results were found in similar studies conducted by the FDA in 1990-93 (FDA 1995). 

Carey AE, Wiersma GB, Tai H. 1976. Pesticide residues in urban soils from 14 United States cities, 1970. Pestic Monit J 10(2) 54-60. 

Carey AE, Yang HSC, Wiersma GB, et al. 1980. Residual concentrations of propanil, TCAB and other pesticides in rice-growing soils in the United States, 1972. Pestic Monit J 14 23-25. 

Kutz F, Strassman S, Yobs A. 1979. Survey of pesticide residues and their metabolises in the general population of the United States. Commission of the European Communities EUR, ISS EUR 5824, Use Biol Specimens Assess Hum Exposure Environ Pollut )67-274. 

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