Legal Tolerance Research Articles

Patterns of Sulfite Residue Persistence in Seedless Grapes During Three Months of Repeated Sulfur Dioxide Fumigations

In 1989, the United States Environmental Protection Agency instituted a sulfite tolerance of 10 µg SO₂ per gram in grapes (<i>Vitis vinifera</i> L.). Accordingly, the residues resulting from repeated weekly SO₂ fumigations of table grapes in storage, a typical industry practice, are a concern. In a simulation of commercial practices, grapes (cv. Thompson Seedless) were fumigated once a week with 2000 or 5000 µL SO₂ per liter of storage volume and aerated 30 minutes while stored at 0°C for at least fourteen consecutive weeks. Each week, grapes were frozen immediately after aeration or stored at 0°C, 10°C, 20°C, or 30°C for 24 hours. The mean SO₂ concentration for the treatment with the highest residues was 2.3 µg/g (5000 µL/L dose, seven fumigations). The maximum residue levels at each dose level were observed between the seventh and eleventh weekly fumigations. The influence of post-fumigation temperature on sulfite residue loss was minor and inconsistent. These data suggest that current industry practices leave sulfite residues well below the official legal tolerance.

Determination of Aflatoxin Bi in Pistachio Kernels and Shells

A method was developed for accurate measurement of aflatoxin B1 in the edible portion of pistachio nuts. Twenty-nine samples of kernels with and without their shells were slurried with a Mega Ultra Turrax. A subsample of the homogenate was extracted with water-methanol, defatted with petroleum ether, purified with a silica solid-phase extraction column, and redissolved in methanol. After separation on an octadecyl column and postcolumn reaction with on-line electrochemically generated bromine, the aflatoxin B1 derivative was detected fluorometrically. The shells contained less than 1% of the aflatoxin B1 found in the edible kernel, and they accounted for 41.7-46.8% of the weight of the whole pistachio. These observations indicate it is possible to analyze an entire sample, up to 25 kg, as a whole and still be able to judge whether it meets the legal tolerance limit of 5 micrograms aflatoxin B1/kg edible part, as set by the Dutch Food Act.

Underpunishing offenders: Towards a theory of legal tolerance

Underpunishing offenders: Towards a theory of legal tolerance

Multiple Insecticide Treatments Affect Harvest Residues of Lettuce

Multiple treatments of mevinphos, methomyl, and permethrin were applied to head lettuce (Latuca sativa L.) under commercial field conditions, and harvest residues compared with those of single treatments made at identical periods before harvest. Single treatments resulted in harvest residue levels below current legal tolerances for these materials on head lettuce. Two consecutive treatments of all insecticides 8 d apart resulted in similarly low harvest residues. However, at shorter treatment intervals of 4 and 2 d, the same materials showed extensive residue accumulation. This trend was greatest at successive treatment intervals of 2 d, where mevinphos increased by 79%, methomyl by 161%, and permethrin by 242%. The importance of this residue loading phenomenon is discussed in light of management of insecticide residues on lettuce in commercial production.

Different Religions, Different Politics: Evaluating the Role of Competing Religious Traditions in American Politics and Law

We are in the midst of a continuing debate about the role of religion in American politics and law. Advocates of a greater role for religion in public life—and I count myself among them—lament the privatization of religion and the secularization of public debate. Although some of the claims about privatization and secularization may be exaggerated, it seems undeniable that religion, despite its apparently robust private health, plays a relatively modest role in the public life of modern America. The public role that it does play, moreover, is under a hovering cloud of suspicion, with critics constantly suggesting that the separation of church and state is being threatened.In this essay, I advance a radical proposition: that privatization and secularization are the product, in part, of religious freedom run amuck. In particular, the concept of religious freedom has evolved to include not merely legal toleration, but also a strong commitment to religious equality. This principle of religious equality supports the protection and nurturing of religious diversity in the private realm. Ironically, however, it also suggests that the diversity among religions is irrelevant in determining the proper role for religion in the public sphere, for the equality principle implies that what is right for one is right for all. On this view, whatever the proper role for religion in politics and law, it must be no different for one religion than another. This public leveling of religion, moreover, tends to ensure that the “equal” role that religions play in American public life will be modest, if not inconsequential. Even as we continue to extol its private diversity, religion has become publicly generic and thereby largely insignificant.

Determining Diuron, Simazine, and Methiocarb Residues in Highbush Blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum)

Two-year-old highbush blueberry bushes (Vaccinium corymbosum L. `Collins') were treated in Mar. 1985 with diuron or simazine at 2.2 or 4.5 kg a.i./ha. No residues were detected by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet absorbance detection (HPLC-UV) from treated berries that were harvested in June. Methiocarb was applied in May 1986 at 0.84 and 3 kg·ha-1 over the top of 3-year-old `Collins' when the berries began to ripen. Reverse-phase HPLC-UV of berries treated with methiocarb at 3 kg·ha-1 had combined residues of methiocarb and its sulfone and sulfoxide metabolites of 13.1 ppm from unrinsed and 7 ppm from rinsed berries harvested on the day of treatment; 4.9 ppm from unrinsed and 4 ppm from rinsed berries harvested 4 days after treatment; and 2.4 ppm from unrinsed and 2.5 ppm from rinsed berries harvested 8 days after treatment. Unrinsed berries treated with methiocarb at 0.84 kg·ha-1 had 5.7 ppm residue on the day of treatment and 1 ppm 8 days later. Residues from berries treated with methiocarb at 0.84 or 3 kg·ha-1 were below the legal tolerance level of 5 ppm after the required 7-day waiting period. Chemical names used: n'-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-N,N -dimethylurea (diuron); 6-chloro- N,N' -diethyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine (simazine); 3,5-dimethyl-4-(methylthio)phenol methylcarbamate (methiocarb).

Civil Rights vs. Civil Liberties

American liberals believe that both civil liberties and civil rights are harmonious aspects of a basic commitment to human rights. But recently these two clusters of values have seemed increasingly to conflict – as, for example, with the feminist claim that the legal toleration of pornography, long a goal sought by civil libertarians, actually violates civil rights as a form of sex discrimination.Here I propose an interpretation of the conflict of civil rights and civil liberties in its latest manifestation: the controversy over how to treat discriminatory verbal harassment on American campuses. I was involved with the controversy in a practical way at Stanford, where I helped draft a harassment regulation that was recently adopted by the university.Like the pornography issue, the harassment problem illustrates the element of paradox in the conflict of civil-liberties and civil-rights perspectives or mentalities. This problem does not simply trigger familiar disagreements between liberals of a classical or libertarian orientation as against those of a welfare state or social democratic one – though it does sometimes do that. In my experience, the issue also has the power to appear to a single person in different shapes and suggest different solutions as it oscillates between being framed in civil-liberties and in civil-rights terms. At the same time, however, it remains recognizably the same problem. It is thus a very practical and political example of the kind of tension noted by Wittgenstein in the aphorism that heads this essay – a puzzle of interpretive framing, of “seeing-as.”

Civil Rights Vs. Civil Liberties: The Case of Discriminatory Verbal Harassment

American liberals believe that both civil liberties and civil rights are harmonious aspects of a basic commitment to human rights. But recently these two clusters of values have seemed increasingly to conflict – as, for example, with the feminist claim that the legal toleration of pornography, long a goal sought by civil libertarians, actually violates civil rights as a form of sex discrimination.Here I propose an interpretation of the conflict of civil rights and civil liberties in its latest manifestation: the controversy over how to treat discriminatory verbal harassment on American campuses. I was involved with the controversy in a practical way at Stanford, where I helped draft a harassment regulation that was recently adopted by the university.Like the pornography issue, the harassment problem illustrates the element of paradox in the conflict of civil-liberties and civil-rights perspectives or mentalities. This problem does not simply trigger familiar disagreements between liberals of a classical or libertarian orientation as against those of a welfare state or social democratic one – though it does sometimes do that. In my experience, the issue also has the power to appear to a single person in different shapes and suggest different solutions as it oscillates between being framed in civil-liberties and in civil-rights terms. At the same time, however, it remains recognizably the same problem. It is thus a very practical and political example of the kind of tension noted by Wittgenstein in the aphorism that heads this essay – a puzzle of interpretive framing, of “seeing-as.”

Fate of Malathion and Chlorpyrifos Methyl in Rough Rice and Milling Fractions Before and After Parboiling and Cooking

Long-grain rough rice treated with malathion (14 ppm) or chlorpyrifos methyl (Reldan) (6 ppm or 12 ppm) was sampled after 1,6, and 12 wk. Samples from each treatment were processed raw or were parboiled with fresh steeping water, once-used, and twice-used steeping water. Three replicates of rough rice and of each milling fraction were preserved, and three of milled rice were cooked. Chemical residues were measured on rough rice, hulls, brown rice, bran, milled rice, and cooked rice. Parboiling reduced residues on rough rice and hulls but tended to increase residues in the other fractions. Residues of Reldan in bran were substantially increased by parboiling. Doubling the amount of Reldan applied to rough rice approximately doubled the residues found in the milling fractions. Small amounts of the protectants survived all processing including cooking. Residues of malathion in cooked rice averaged about 0.016 ppm in nonparboiled and 0.013 ppm in parboiled rice. Residue of Reldan in cooked rice was commensurate with the amount applied to rough rice. When applied to rough rice at 6 ppm, residues of Reldan in cooked rice averaged 0.05 ppm in nonparboiled rice and 0l.065 ppm in parboiled rice. When applied to rough rice at 12 ppm, residues in cooked rice averaged .053 ppm in nonparboiled rice and 0.15 ppm in parboiled rice. Legal tolerances were not exceeded in any milling fraction. Reuse of the steeping water had little or no effect on residues.

Black Education and the Dialectics of Transformation in South Africa, 1982–8

After yet another period of unrest and spreading resistance among the black majority, the Pretoria régime struck back in February 1988. Seventeen organisations that had manoeuvred precariously on the margins of legal toleration were summarily banned – that is, prohibited from ‘carrying on or performing any activities or act whatever’–many of their leaders were detained, while the survivors were harried underground.

Polychlorierte Biphenyle (PCB) in Fischen aus Teichwirtschaften und Nachkl�rteichen

The concentrations of six selected single polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners, for which legal tolerance levels became valid in 1988, and the congener no. 49 (2,2',4,5'-tetrachlorobiphenyl) were determined in the muscle tissue of 58 fishes from fish hatcheries and in 17 fishes from settle ponds. The fish were taken from flowing waters in the years 1986 and 1987. High and low chlorinated biphenyls were present in each sample, but the concentration of the low chlorinated biphenyls was distinctly lower than that of the higher chlorinated ones. Nevertheless these results demonstrate the intake of components of low chlorinated technical PCB mixtures in the environment and food chains. Compared with the investigations carried out in 1980/81 in fishes from fish hatcheries, a decrease of PCB contamination in the muscle tissues with regard to the technical mixture Clophen A 60 was observed. This is in accordance with the results our team obtained a short time previously in muscle tissue from foxes and in food-stuffs. The concentration of all PCB congeners determined in the muscle tissue from fish of settle ponds was significantly higher than in the tissue from fish taken from hatcheries. Thus, the PCB content depends on the PCB load in different environments. Therefore, fishes can be useful as bioindicators for the intake of low and high chlorinated PCB congeners in aquatic ecosystems.

Polychlorierte Biphenyle: Bestimmung der Einzelkomponenten in Rohmilch und kontaminierten Futtermitteln

Since 1980, 2145 samples of raw milk from producers in the district of Freiburg have been analysed for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) during a monitoring programme. In 1983, we started to search for the source of PCB, whenever milk was contaminated above the average value (above 0.2 mg/kg fat, calculated as Clophen A60). In 7 cases, previous coats of paint in the silos proved to be the cause of the PCB contamination. Five samples of milk and 4 corresponding silages as well as 1 sample of wood (from a cowshed) were investigated for all of the individual PCB components included in the technical mixtures of Clophen A30 and A60. Two samples of silages contained both low and high chlorinated biphenyls, whereas low chlorinated biphenyls (di-, tri-, and tetrachlorinated biphenyls) were not detected in the corresponding milk samples. Pentachlorinated biphenyls were only detected in the range of 1%-2%. In the samples of wood and corresponding milk, a different PCB pattern appeared. There were remarkably high percentages of hepta- and octachlorinated biphenyls as well as a lower percentage of hexachlorinated biphenyls. The exact PCB content of the milk, determined by the addition of all single components, proved to be approximately half the value obtained by the usual calculation based on the evaluation of the three main peaks of the technical PCB mixture (Clophen A60). During 1984-1987, 607 samples of raw milk were analysed for six single PCB components, for which legal tolerance levels became valid in 1988.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The Accommodation of Chinese Immigrants in Early California Courts

Most histories today emphasize the overwhelming antagonism toward Chinese immigrants in the initial period of California history. Citing press accounts, congressional testimony, and the diaries of the time, historians have noted that anti-Chinese sentiments rested upon a host of social, political, and economic differences. These culminated in agitation on the part of the white working classes for the expulsion of the Chinese. When the Chinese were finally excluded by federal law in 1882, they had been subjected to a wide variety of racist laws, including taxation, prohibition of testimony, discriminatory employment practices, and inhuman treatment in communities, courts, and jails. But the earliest period of Chinese presence in California—especially in the legal sphere—was marked by notable incidents of tolerance and accommodation that have been largely overlooked. This article examines these instances of legal tolerance of Chinese immigrants. An explanation based on the development of frontiers is presented.

Multimethod for the determination of residues of chemotherapeutic drugs, antiparasitic agents and growth promotors in foodstuffs of animal origin. 1. General procedure and determination of sulfonamides

Applying this Multi-Method, it is possible to isolate more than 60 chemotherapeutics, antiparasitics and growth promoters in one procedure from eggs, milk and meat. Residues are detected by different chromatographic systems (HPLC with UV-Detection, Capillary-GC with an ECD). Depending on substance and foodstuff, the following detection limits can be achieved: (Table: see text). The observance of the legal tolerance level of 0.001 mg/kg Chloramphenicol (valid only for milk and eggs in the Fed. Rep. Germany) can be supervised. Residues of most Sulfonamides can be determined to adequately, check the proposed tolerance level of 0.1 mg/kg. The first part presents the procedure (applicable for all substances) and contains the summary of the chromatographic parameters for the detection of all substances and the detailed parameters for Sulfonamides. The conformation of residues of Sulfonamides is discussed carefully.

Diphenyl Absorption and Decay in ‘Dancy’ and ‘Sunburst’ Tangerine Fruit1

Abstract Effects of storage time, temperature, fruit preparation, time of harvest and number of diphenyl pads per carton with ‘Dancy’ (Citrus reticulata Blanco) and ‘Sunburst’ a seedling from ‘Robinson’ × ‘Osceola’, each C. reticulata × (C. paradisi Macf. × C. reticulata) tangerines were studied to determine the amount of diphenyl absorbed and extent of decay. Storage of ‘Dancy’ and ‘Sunburst’ at 4°C for up to 4 weeks with 1 or 2 diphenyl pads resulted in diphenyl residues less than the U.S. legal tolerance of 110 ppm. However, storage of both cultivars for 2 weeks at 21°C with 2 diphenyl pads resulted in residues exceeding this tolerance limit. Decay and diphenyl residues both tended to be higher for ‘Dancy’ than for ‘Sunburst’. ‘Dancy’ tangerines stored for 4 weeks at 21°C all decayed. Statistical examination of 2 harvests of ‘Sunburst’ showed that early harvested fruit were less susceptible to decay but prone to absorb higher amounts of diphenyl.

Gas-Liquid Chromatographic-Mass Spectrometric Confirmation of Endosulfan and Endosulfan Sulfate in Apples and Carrots

A gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric (GLC-MS) procedure is described for the confirmation of endosulfan I, endosulfan II, and endosulfan sulfate in apples and carrots. After extraction, cleanup, and determination by electron capture gas-liquid chromatography using current AOAC methodology, residues are confirmed by GLC-MS. The chemical ionization (CI) mode is used with methane as a reagent gas. Each residue is confirmed by a scan of only 4 regions of its mass spectrum rather than the full mass range. The 4 mass regions for the 2 endosulfan isomers are 274-280, 340-346, 368-374, and 404-412 atomic mass units (amu). For endosulfan sulfate, the mass regions are 286-294, 322-330, 384-392, and 420-428 amu. Four ions and their chlorine isotopic distributions are detected for each compound by this scanning technique. This method was developed by using carrots and apples to which had been added 0.1 ppm (50% of the current legal tolerance on carrots) of each of the 3 pesticides. The gas chromatographic retention times and the mass spectra of the 4 mass regions specified for the 3 pesticides were compared to those of reference standards injected under identical GLC-MS conditions and were used as the basis for confirming identity of the 3 compounds.

Analytical Methods for Sulfonamides in Foods and Feeds. I. Review of Methodology

Abstract Sulfonamides are an important class of antibacterial compounds used in veterinary practice and animal production. A number of specific compounds are approved for use in certain species under limitations requiring withdrawal long enough to eliminate the residues from edible tissues. In most cases, the legal tolerance is 0.1 ppm. This residue is measured in regulatory laboratories by a modified Bratton-Marshall procedure of solvent extraction, transfer to an acid solution, removal of potentially interfering amines by extraction from basic solution, diazotization of the sulfonamide in a reacidified solution, and spectrophotometric measurement of the developed color. The tissue metabolites of the sulfonamides are usually the parent compound and the N4-acetyl derivative, which is hydrolyzed to the parent compound by evaporation of the extracting solvent in the presence of acid. The only collaborative studies which have been performed on methods for veterinary sulfonamides involve their determination as additives to feeds at levels of the order of magnitude of 100 ppm. Recoveries (94-103%) are satisfactory for the collaborative studies available. The reproducibility coefficient of variation of 5% is satisfactory for sulfaquinoxaline, sulfaguanidine, sulfanitran, and sulfamethazine; the 13% coefficient of variation for sulfadimethoxine is not satisfactory, indicating that the method for this compound needs improvement. No collaborative studies have been performed on tissue residue methods. Therefore the between-laboratory variability and the susceptibility to outliers of the method used to enforce residue tolerances are unknown. Based upon within-laboratory studies, however, it appears that all of the diazotization-based methods are being operated close to their limit of reliable determination, a poor analytical practice. Current methodological approaches utilize gas chromatography, high pressure liquid chromatography, and even gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with an isotopically labeled internal standard. None of these proposed methods have yet reached the stage of collaborative studies for either feeds or tissues. In this discussion of analytical methods for sulfonamides, an introductory section covering the regulatory aspects and chemical properties of sulfonamides is followed by three main sections: first, general problems, including sampling and sample preparation, extraction, protein precipitation, cleanup, emulsions, color reactions, confirmation of identity, interferences, and sulfonamide metabolites; second, collaboratively studied methods of analysis, including methods for feeds, concentrates and premixes, and tissues, and statistical parameters; and last, other available analytical methods, including methods in the Food Additives Analytical Manual, validation studies for New Animal Drug Applications, the Tishler method, methods for sulfonamides as contaminants in feeds, methods involving chromatography, polarography, and automation, and prospective methods.

A Critical Study of the Multiuse Polyethylene Plastic Milk Container System

The absorption of 11 of 16 common chemical substances by multiuse polyethylene plastic milk containers was not detected by the required contaminant detection device. The inability of the detector to respond to significant levels of several potentially hazardous chemical substances suggests that this multiuse milk container system may present a public health problem. Milk stored in five of the 11 “detector-accepted” bottles contained either pesticide residues in excess of legal tolerance limits or had objectionable off-flavors. The contaminant detector will detect volatile hydrocarbons and may not respond to absorbed toxic contaminants which may gain entrance to polyethylene milk containers through misuse by the consumer.

Collaborative studies of methods for pesticides residues analysis.

While certain countries informally screen foodstuffs for pesticide residues, others have established legal tolerances for them and such tolerances are under international consideration for agreement at FAO/WHO Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues and the European Economic Community. There is, therefore, the real possibility of rejection of a consignment of foodstuffs on the grounds of pesticide contamination. This would involve loss of money, reputation, and also commercial inconvenience; methods of analysis used for this purpose have to be the best and as foolproof as can be devised. Particular difficulty may be found in such analyses as very small amounts of pesticide are associated with relatively very large amounts of foodstuff and both very pure reagents, absorbents, etc., have to be used and also special care has to be taken with the techniques involved, e.g., column chromatography.KeywordsPesticide ResidueCollaborative StudyMethyl ParathionOrganophosphorus PesticideEuropean Economic CommunityThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Chronic ingestion of lead and the response of the immature rat to parathion.

The establishment of legal tolerances for pesticide residues in or on foodstuffs is based in many cases on the level of pesticide ingested that causes "no detrimental effect" in experimental animals. The experimental conditions are usually such that the test species is subjected to less stress than is man. Although a safety factor is applied which theoretically will protect against possible interactions that may potentiate pesticide toxicity, it would be beneficial to have precise data on possible interactions.