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R. Desikan

Though pesticides such as DDT are banned world wide, in India, the pesticide is still being produced in huge quantities.

A recent study by an American consumer group says that nearly a quarter of organic fruits and vegetables contain pesticides. Consumers Union studied government data and found pesticide residue on 23 per cent of organic produce. That compares with residue found on 75 per cent of conventionally-grown produce.

The study has been published in this month's edition of the journal, Food Additives and Contaminants. The report says most of the residue was of organochlorine pesticides, which include DDT and chlordane. These are chemicals that the plants can soak up from the soil decades after the products were used.

The study was based on sampling done by the US Agriculture Department and the State of California, as well as Consumers Union scientists.

According to Brian Baker, a researcher at the Organic Materials Review Institute, who participated in the study, `organic' is not a pesticide-free claim. Besides spray-drift from adjacent farms, there can be soil or irrigation-water contamination. "Mislabelling and occasional fraud also clearly account for some of the organic samples that tested positive for residues," says Baker.

He refers to a Mexican sample of "organic" sweet bell peppers that contained six different pesticide residues. "Organic production doesn't mean pesticide-free production."

Organic crops are a small percentage of the North American market, less than five per cent, but the industry is growing rapidly.

Sales of organic food are expected to grow by 20 to 30 per cent this year. "Consumers need to recognise that organic production doesn't mean pesticide-free production," says Carl Winter, a food toxicologist at the University of California.

Organic farmers tend to use special pesticides approved for their crops such as sulphur and bacteria sprays. But scientists have expressed concerns about the occurrence of mycotoxins on organic produce and the use of manure as fertiliser, which could carry harmful bacteria. Mycotoxins are produced by fungi and can be prevented with the use of conventional pesticides.

Food safety in Canada: In the Cuisinart, an environmental watchdog, "Consumers who seek to reduce their exposure to pesticide residues can do so reliably by choosing organic produce," the scientists wrote. "However, none of the choices available on the market is completely free of pesticide residues." In Canada, to be certified organic, the product has to meet a comprehensive set of rules overseen by the Canadian General Standards Board. The standards are voluntary, except in Quebec where there are large fines for non-compliance.

"To qualify as certified organic, a field of corn, for example, would have to be free of commercial fertilisers for three years, be free of herbicides for three years, use seed that is not from genetically modified seed, include a buffer zone between organic plants and non-organic plants."

In India, we still manufacture huge quantities of DDT, when it has been banned all over the world. It is time that we also ban all these pesticides that are harmful to consumers or the end-users.

The author is former Chairman, Federation of Consumer Organisations, Tamil Nadu. He can be reached at rdesikan@vsnl.com

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