Eating Organics Cuts Kids' Pesticide Loads

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Eating Organics Cuts Kids' Pesticide Loads

January 31, 2003

 

A University of Washington study analyzed pesticide breakdown products

(metabolites) in pre-school aged children and found that children eating organic

fruits and vegetables had concentrations of pesticide metabolites six times

lower than children eating conventional produce. The study compared metabolite

concentrations of organophosphorus (OP) pesticides (a class of insecticides that

disrupt the nervous system) in the urine of 39 urban and suburban children aged

2 to 4 years. The researchers' findings point to a relatively simple way for

parents to reduce their children's chemical loads--serve organic produce.

 

The authors focused on children's dietary pesticide exposure because children

are at greater risk for two reasons: they eat more food relative to body mass,

and they eat foods higher in pesticide residues--such as juices, fresh fruits

and vegetables. An earlier study cited by the authors looked at pesticide

metabolites in the urine of 96 urban and suburban children and found OP

pesticides in the urine of all children but one. The parents of the child with

no pesticide metabolites reported buying exclusively organic produce.

 

Researchers recruited children for the study outside of conventional and organic

grocery stores in the Seattle metropolitan region and asked parents to record

all food consumed in a three-day period prior to collecting their child's urine

over the next 24 hours. Based on the food diaries, the study assigned the

children into groups consuming at least 75% organic or at least 75% conventional

fruits and vegetables. Parents were also asked about household pesticide use in

their homes and on gardens, lawns and pets. Although the authors found that

parents of children eating conventional diets were more likely to report some

home pesticide use, they did not find significant differences in concentrations

of pesticide metabolites based on this use.

 

The children's urine was tested for five metabolites of OP pesticides which are

registered in the U.S. and frequently applied to food crops. The study focused

on these pesticides because they are metabolized into several easily

recognizable compounds. Breakdown products of pesticides such as malathion,

azinphos-methyl, parathion, oxydemeton-methyl, phosmet, methyl parathion,

methidatihon and dimethoate were found at the highest concentrations. Of these

pesticides, azinphos-methyl and phosmet are the two primarily used on fresh

produce within the U.S. Lower concentrations were found of breakdown products

from diazinon and chlorpyrifos.

 

The researchers found median concentrations of OP metabolites six times lower in

the children with organic diets. Average concentrations for the organic group

were actually nine times lower, suggesting that some children eating

conventional produce had much higher concentrations of OP metabolites in their

systems.

 

Because many of the OP pesticides break down into identical metabolites, the

study did not provide information on the specific pesticides children were

exposed to. However, the study did determine that some children were at risk for

consuming more OP pesticides than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

considers " safe " as a daily dose. The researchers concluded that organic fruits

and vegetables can reduce exposure levels from above to below EPA chronic

reference doses, " thereby shifting exposures from a range of uncertain risk to a

range of negligible risk. "

 

These findings confirm what is already known about pesticide residues on

conventional produce. Consumers Union analyzed U.S. Department of Agriculture

residue data for all pesticides for 1999 and 2000 and warned parents of small

children to limit or avoid conventionally grown foods known to have high

residues such as cantaloupes, green beans (canned or frozen), pears,

strawberries, tomatoes (Mexican grown) and winter squash. The Seattle study,

which reflects children's food diaries, adds apples to that list.

 

Susan Kegley, staff scientist at Pesticide Action Network states, " We have been

concerned for a long time about continuous exposure to organochlorine pesticides

because they persist in our bodies for years. This study reveals that we are

continuously exposed to OP pesticides, not because they linger in our bodies,

but because we are persistently being exposed through the food we eat every

day. "

 

The study's main conclusion--eating organic fruits and vegetables can

significantly reduce children's pesticide loads--is information that parents can

act on to reduce their children's risk. A secondary conclusion--that small

children may be exceeding " safe " levels of pesticide exposure--is information

that regulators should act on and, at the very least, reduce uses of these

pesticides on food crops.

 

Related News:

The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC)'s Second National Report on Human

Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, released January 30, 2003, has more

information on pesticide metabolites. See

http://www.panna.org/campaigns/docsPops/docsPops_030130.dv.html, and watch for

next week's PANUPS.

 

Sources:

Organophosphorus pesticide exposure or urban and suburban pre-school children

with organic and conventional diets, Cynthia L. Curl, Richard A. Fenske, Kai

Elgethun, Environmental Health Perspectives, October 13, 2002, National

Institute of Environmental Sciences, EHP Online, http://www.ehponline.org; Do

You Know What You're Eating? February 1999, Consumers Union of United States,

Inc, http://www.consumersunion.org/food/do_you_know2.htm; Pesticide residues in

conventional, IPM-grown and organic foods: Insights from three U.S. data sets,

Food Additives and Contaminants, May 2002,

http://www.consumersunion.org/food/organicsumm.htm

 

Contact: PANNA

 

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