USDA plans to release pesticide data this week

Date:05-17-2011

Amid controversy about how U.S. Department of Agriculture pesticide residue data is used, the agency is days away from releasing its latest report on the Pesticide Data Program.
 
Michael T. Jarvis, director of public affairs for the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, said the 2009 data is expected to be released by May 19.

"We’ve got the data, we’ve got the executive summary and some information for the public so they can have an understanding about the report,” he said.

Jarvis deferred further comment about the report until it’s released.

The Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group — which has used the PDP report data for about a decade for its “Dirty Dozen” list of pesticide residues on produce, sent a letter to the federal agencies, requesting the report’s release.

The EWG said the report is typically released closer to January. In the letter, EWG president Ken Cook asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to promptly release of the most recent test results.

In a May 16 news release, Cook expressed alarm, saying that produce industry officials were trying to influence the release of the report.

"It is shocking in 2011 to see major produce companies in a public bear hug with the pesticide lobby,” said EWG president Ken Cook in the release.

A variety of produce organizations, including Washington, D.C.-based United Fresh Produce Association, Newark-Del.-based Produce Marketing Association and Irvine, Calif.-based Western Growers have asked the USDA in recent months to provide better context in the report to prevent mischaracterization of the data in ways that would cause undue alarm for consumers about consuming fresh produce.

Kathy Means, vice president of government relations and public relations for PMA, said the association has never asked the USDA to withhold or change the data.

"We have been talking to USDA urging them to provide a little more context,” she said. “We’ve haven’t been asking them not to release it. It is up to USDA when they are ready to release that data.”