Word: use
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Contamination of food can begin in the production process. For fruits and vegetables, the major concern is pesticides. At a time when nutritionists are urging the public to down more fresh produce, consumer groups are claiming that pesticide use could result in tens of thousands of cancer cases over the next 50 years. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, use of pesticides -- fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and plant-growth regulators -- has more than doubled in the past 20 years, to about 820 million lbs. annually. Farmers say the chemicals are necessary to save crops and keep food prices low; even with...
...troubling facts remain. As much as 50% of fruits and vegetables come from abroad where the restrictions on pesticide use are generally not as stringent as in the U.S. Imported produce often carries not only higher levels of chemicals than domestic supplies but also residues of DDT and other pesticides banned...
...permits American farmers to use some 320 pesticides on food. However, the scientific information on many of them is thin. In 1970 pesticide regulation was removed from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and turned over to the fledgling EPA. Most of the chemicals then in use were grandfathered into approval without extensive tests to document their safety; 66 of the 320 pesticides have since been classified as carcinogens by the Government...
Although many people would like to see the total elimination of pesticide use, that is not a feasible goal. Organic farming, while on the increase, will probably never be able to satisfy the nation's produce needs; it now supplies perhaps 1% of the fruits and vegetables consumed in the U.S., and the prices are high for many budgets. It is more realistic to encourage alternative means of growing crops that rely less heavily on pesticide use. Integrated pest management, for example, releases insect predators into fields to help destroy pests and replaces regular chemical use with more judicious spraying...
...benefit of reduced pesticide use would be less chemical contamination of fish. The waters where fish breed are being polluted by pesticide runoff from the land along with sewage and industrial wastes that are dumped into streams and rivers. Oyster and clam beds that lie close offshore have been especially vulnerable...