Greens say pesticide food tests inadequate

The State's pesticide control service needs to be significantly expanded and given adequate resources to check for pesticides in home-produced and imported foods, a Government report says.

For the second year in succession, the Pesticide Residues in Food annual report underlines the need to increase the number of pesticides being analysed and to broaden the range of commodities sampled and analysed. It also calls for an increase in the number of samples tested for, and an expansion of the range of pesticides which have maximum residue limits (MRLs). These are the maximum legal limits permitted in or on food commodities and animal feeds.

The report, nonetheless, finds Irish food in general is of good quality in terms of having low or no pesticide level. Among 722 samples taken last year, there were 19 instances of foods exceeding MRLs, of which 14 were imported produce. Fruit and vegetables accounted for the majority of cases where MRLs were exceeded.

The Green Party, however, yesterday accused the Government of failing to respond to obvious shortcomings with the operation of the Department of Agriculture's pesticide control service, which it claimed "makes redundant statements suggesting that everything is fine". Last year the testing capacity of the PCS laboratory was reduced by a third compared to other years, as it had to develop systems and procedures to ensure accreditation under the terms of an EU directive.

The party's spokeswoman on food and agriculture, Ms Paula Giles, said the number of samples taken was often too small, while the percentage of fruit and vegetable samples exceeding the MRLs, at 4.7 per cent, had almost doubled since 1996. The discovery last year of 47 different pesticides in fruit and vegetables sampled was all very well but only two-thirds of them had MRLs, she said. "This means that for a third there are no figures to indicate what the adequate safety limit is."

The report also notes that in many instances MRLs have been set for compounds which are not yet included in the PCS monitoring programme. Following the adoption at EU level of changes in procedures for setting MRLs, it is expected that levels will be set a lot quicker than heretofore, and some 60 MRLs will be set over the next year.

Earlier this year the environmental group Earthwatch said the EU should ban 55 of the 90 pesticides being reviewed by the European Commission because of their potential link with cancer. It emerged that only a third of these pesticides were being monitored here. The Department of Agriculture defended this on the basis that many were not on the Irish market, or used infrequently.

The Department has stressed it "continues to be committed to the strengthening of the pesticide monitoring programme". The Minister of State, Mr Ned O'Keeffe, emphasised the excellent compliance record of Irish food producers, but was determined that every effort would be made to reduce the number of samples which exceed the MRL.