Agrochemical Industry Conference Focuses on Pesticides and Food Safety

Abstract

Despite official pronouncements that the U.S. food supply is safe and that pesticide residues on foods pose no threat to health, some segments of the population persist in believing otherwise. Countering these beliefs has become a major effort of the National Agricultural Chemicals Association (NACA), based in Washington, D.C., and was the primary subject of its fall conference in Washington late last month. Pesticide residues, and their possible health effects, have become front-page stories in the past few years—focused by the controversy over the apple growth regulator Alar. Two major activities are under way that will affect how pesticides are used in the future, attendees were told at the NACA conference. One is a report being prepared by the National Research Council (NRC) on the effects of pesticides in the diets of infants and children, and the other is challenges to the absolute zero risk demand of the 1958 Delaney amendment to the Food, Drug ...