Record level of pesticides on food

Food on sale across Europe has been contaminated by record levels of toxic pesticides, according to a draft report for the European Commission.

Half of the fruit, vegetables and cereals tested in 28 countries - including Scotland - was found to contain traces of pesticides. Among the worst contaminated were grapes, bananas, peppers and aubergines.

More than 2500 samples - nearly 5% - had levels in breach of safety limits. Altogether 354 different pesticides were detected, 23 of them at levels officially judged as a health risk.

Next month, the environment committee of the European Parliament is due to vote on a new law which could ban the use of the more hazardous pesticides. But this is being fiercely resisted by the pesticides industry, which says it would force up food prices.

Against this background, EC officials have drafted a report summarising monitoring results for residues of pesticides in food sold in the European Union, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein during 2006. A copy of the report, which has yet to be published, has been seen by the Sunday Herald.

It shows 49% of more than 55,000 samples of fruits, vegetables and cereals contained pesticides. This is said to be the highest level of contamination recorded in the EU, and 20% higher than over the last five-year period."These are the worst pesticide results we've ever seen", said Elliott Cannell, the co-ordinator of the Pesticides Action Network in Europe.

Five of the pesticides most common in the food chain were classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or disruptive to the hormonal system, he alleged.

"Politicians in Brussels must back the removal of the worst pesticides from the food chain, and ensure that hazardous pesticides are replaced with safer alternatives wherever possible."

More than one in 10 food samples across Europe were found to contain four or more pesticides. In total, 4.7% of fruit, vegetables and cereals had pesticide concentrations above the legal "maximum residue levels".

Recent monitoring by the UK government's Pesticide Residues Committee found that 52% of the fruit and vegetables on sale in the UK in 2007 was contaminated. They included grapes, lettuce, apples, pears and citrus fruits.

Nearly 3% contained concentrations above the permitted safety levels, including parsley from Tesco in Stirling, peaches from Somerfield in Edinburgh and passion fruit from Asda in Edinburgh.

Cannell pointed out that some supermarkets were taking action to reduce the levels. Marks & Spencer produced its own blacklist, while Sainsbury's and the Cooperative were working to eliminate the most hazardous substances.

But pesticide manufacturers accused campaigners of trying to create a "climate of fear". The apparent increase was just a "spike" caused by harmonising the collection of monitoring results from across Europe, they claimed.

"Presenting the figures as being of concern is unfounded," said director general of the European Crop Protection Association, Friedhelm Schmider. "The figures mentioned are in line with last year's report."
He stressed that EU agriculture was successful and safe, and warned that removing large numbers of pesticides would put up the cost of food.