Federal Pesticide Regulations Assailed

Farmers and CA Ag Secretary Ann Veneman

Sacramento Bee/UPI 18jul98

SACRAMENTO, Calif -- Uncontrolled whitefly infestations devastating the lettuce and tomato harvests. Wheat, oats and rice fields crawling with beetles. Cockroaches, termites and lice slowly invading cities and suburbs, plaguing public health and welfare.

These creepy scenarios were among the predictions made by farmers Friday at an informational hearing at California's Capitol on implementation of the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA).

That federal law, yet to take effect, establishes new safety standards for agricultural chemicals used by farmers and imposes changes in food safety and pesticide laws.

One of the biggest issues of concern to farmers, according to this story, is the fate of insect-killing chemicals like organophosphates, which would be eliminated under FQPA.

Ann Veneman, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture was quoted as saying that if alternatives aren't developed in time, California food production will be "severely affected. We urge that FQPA be implemented with a sound approach."

Hearing that message were representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who are now expected to take California's complaints and concerns back to Washington. Richard Rominger, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, acknowledged that FQPA "poses some new challenges" to growers, but he said it will ensure that American consumers have access to safer food.

But plenty of California representatives at the hearing were skeptical. As the producer of more than 350 commodities and 50 percent of the nation's fruits, vegetables and nuts, California has much to lose from a harsh implementation of the act, Veneman said.