1 Environmental Issues in Food Science

2 Environmental Regulation  Silent Spring (Rachel Carson)  Early regulation  NEPA Clean Water  Clean Air  Hazardous Waste  Food Quality Protection Act

3 Environmental Regulation and Foods  Raw Product Contaminants  Environmental Protection Agency  Pesticides  Organic Foods  Food Sanitation  Food Production and Waste Disposal

4 Relevant Inquiry: Can we grow enough food without using pesticides or other environmental contaminants?

5 Global Food Supplies  Current global food supply, evenly distributed, is estimated to be sufficient for an adequate diet for the world’s nearly six billion people  Earth’s carrying capacity is finite  Animal agriculture provides, in the form of meat, milk, and eggs, approximately one-sixth of all human food energy and more than one-third of human food protein

6 Global Food Supplies  Food demand will rise significantly  Expanding populations will make a doubling of food output imperative in the next 30 years  250,000 people added to population each day  1.2. billion hectares - equivalent to combined area of China and India, have been impaired as a consequence of human activity

7 Global Food Supplies  Erosion and overuse of agricultural land are dramatically increasing water shortages in densely populated regions  17 million hectares of forests, converted to unsustainable agricultural purposes  Last remaining food reservoir, is nearing exhaustion. Fish catches in international waters have reached their limits

8 Global Food Supplies  Feed grains = grains fed to animals as opposed to grain directly consumed by humans  Animals produce food from large quantities of plant materials that humans cannot eat  Nutritional value of animal products high at low intakes  Soylent Green?

9 Raw Product Contaminants  Pesticides –Atrazine  Metals –Lead, Mercury  Chemical Contaminants –Dioxins, PCBs  Microbiological Contaminants –Bacteria, Fungi, Molds

10  Responsible for a number of activities that contribute to food security within the United States  Food safety, water quality, and pesticide applicator training  Primary contribution to food security is through its program to regulate the use of pesticide

11  Responsible for registration of new pesticides before they can be marketed and the re-registration of older pesticides to ensure that they meet current scientific standards  1996, President Clinton signed Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996

12 Food Quality and Protection Act 1966  Amended the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA)  Changed the way EPA regulates pesticides.  Proposed new safety standard “reasonable certainty of no harm” that must be applied to all pesticides used on food

13 FQPA  EPA must review the safety of all existing tolerances (maximum residue limits) that were in effect when FQPA was passed.  Review of all existing uses of a pesticide when a new use is proposed  Highest priority place on tolerance reassessment on pesticides that appear to pose the greatest risk

14 FQPA  By August 1999, EPA must reassess 33 percent of existing tolerances  Pesticides that were not reassessed by August 1999 will be completed by 2002

15 Raw Products and Pesticides  Agriculture is the major user of pesticides  75% of use by volume  Industrial, commercial, and governmental users = 18%  Home and garden users = 7%  Herbicides for weed control account for the largest volume of agricultural pesticide use (59%), primarily on corn and soybeans

16 Raw Products and Pesticides  smaller quantities of other pesticides are used in agriculture –fungicides –rodenticides –fumigants –Sterilants  FIFRA prohibits sale of any pesticide in the United States unless it is registered

17 Pesticide Exports  440 million pounds of pesticides were exported  29% of all domestic pesticide production and 10% of world consumption  valued at approximately $2 billion  quarter of U.S. pesticide exports involve unregistered pesticides

18 Pesticides Imports  United States cannot control the use of unregistered pesticides in other countries  FDCA prohibits food imports with residues of unregistered pesticides, or pesticides that exceed tolerances  United States imports approximately 15% of total domestic consumption of agricultural products  FDA physically samples only about 2% of all imports for pesticide residue levels

19 Pesticide Residues  Widely used in producing food  Pesticides may remain in small amounts (called residues) in or on fruits, vegetables, grains, and other foods  EPA regulates the amount of each pesticide that may remain in and on foods.

20 Pesticides  865 active ingredients registered as pesticides  350 pesticides are used on the foods we eat  Includes insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides, insect repellants, weed killers, antimicrobials, and swimming pool chemicals, which are designed to prevent, destroy, repel, or reduce pests of any sort.

21 Pesticides  Food Quality and Protection Act  Pesticide Tolerances  New Safety Standard applied to all raw products  “Certainty of no harm”

22 EPA Pesticide Safety Assessment 1. Hazard Identification 2. Dose-Response Assessment 3. Exposure Assessment 4. Risk Characterization

23 Hazard Identification  Identify potential health effects that may occur from different types of pesticide exposure  Considers the full spectrum of a pesticide’s potential health effects  Toxicity studies are conducted on animals by pesticide companies in independent laboratories and evaluated for acceptability by EPA scientists

24 Dose-Response Assessment  The amount of a substance a person is exposed to,  How toxic the chemical might be,  Considering the dose levels at which adverse effects were observed in test animals, and using these dose levels to calculate an equal dose in humans.

25 Exposure Assessment  People can be exposed to pesticides in three ways: 1. Inhalation exposure, 1. Inhalation exposure, 2. Absorbing pesticides through the skin 2. Absorbing pesticides through the skin 3. Oral exposure 3. Oral exposure  Typical sources of pesticide exposure include:  Foods  Home and Personal Use  Pesticides in Drinking Water  Worker Exposure to Pesticides

26 Risk Characterization  the process of combining the hazard, dose-response and exposure assessments to describe the overall risk from a pesticide  explains the assumptions used in assessing exposure as well as the uncertainties that are built into the dose-response assessment

27 RISK = TOXICITY x EXPOSURE  Risk to human health from pesticide exposure depends on both the toxicity of the pesticide and the likelihood of people coming into contact with it  When pesticides are used, there is some toxicity and exposure, which results in a potential risk

28 Environmental Protection Agency  Responsible for establishing tolerances for pesticides  FDA responsible for monitoring pesticide tolerances on raw agricultural products  Before allowing the use of a pesticide on food crops, EPA sets a tolerance, or maximum residue limit, which is the amount of pesticide residue allowed to remain in or on each treated food commodity

29 Other Agencies  FDA tests food produced in the United States and food imported from other countries for compliance with these residue limit  State enforcement agencies also check foods produced in this country.  USDA tests meat and milk  US Customs Department notifies FDA of arrival of Food products

30 Organic Foods  Foods grown and processed using no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides or pesticides derived from natural sources  Consumers purchase organically grown and processed foods as a way to reduce their exposure to synthetic pesticides and fertilizers

31 Regulation of Organic Foods  Over forty private organizations and state agencies (certifiers) currently certify organic foods  Organic Foods Production Act passed in 1990, to assure consumers that "organic" food meets the same standards in every state  1997, USDA published a proposal for national organic standards

32 National Organics Program  Beginning on October 21, 2002, producers and handlers must be certified by a USDA- accredited certifying agent to sell, label, or represent their products as "100 percent organic," "organic," or "made with organic  USDA, accredited certifying agents, and approved State Organic Programs will be responsible for enforcement of the national regulations.

33 National Organics Program  USDA Organic Seal may appear on organic agricultural products that are certified 100 percent organic or products that are certified as containing at least 95 percent organic ingredients.