Imagine, for a moment, a world without pesticides.

Insects would roam freely through your home, lawn and garden.
They would feast happily
on flour and other stored food, your prized tomatoes and
gorgeous petunias.

Produce sections and grocery shelves might be nearly bare for
much of the year. Food
costs, if you could find the food you wanted, would skyrocket.

"Without pesticides, Americans couldn’t possibly have
the low-cost, abundant
supply of fresh food we do now," said Paul Guillebeau, an
entomologist with the
University of Georgia Extension Service.

The government, mostly through the Environmental Protection
Agency, works hard to keep
us safe from agricultural pesticide overuse, he said.

In 1958, Congress passed the Delaney Clause. It caused fresh
and processed foods to be
regulated in different ways. Until recently, pesticide safety
standards were based on
tolerances in adults, not the people pesticides could affect the
most.

The Delaney Clause could keep ketchup out of stores due to
traces of pesticide. But
tomatoes from the same farm could sell at markets everywhere.

Now, though, the Food Quality Protection Act, passed in late
July, changes all that. It
applies the same pesticide-residue standards to both processed
and fresh foods, Guillebeau
said. And it sets safety standards to protect children and
infants.

"Many people think every bite of food has pesticide
residues on it," he said.
"But in fact, the Food and Drug Administration can’t find
any trace of pesticides in
most of the samples they test."

But that’s based on commercial pesticide use and produce sold
at retail outlets.
Homeowners may use pesticides very differently.

"In my experience, homeowners and gardeners don’t pay
nearly enough attention to
labels on pesticides," Guillebeau said. "And when they
try to read and follow
the directions, the label may be vague about how much is needed
for it to work or how to
use the chemical."

As a result, he said, many people get far more exposure to
pesticides at home than they
do from food they buy. There’s a push to improve labeling on
home products now, he said.

To help reduce exposure around your home, he said, use as
little of any pesticide as
you can. And keep containers out of children’s reach.

Rinse any homegrown vegetables with fresh water before eating
them. Wash flowers or
greenery, too, before bringing them inside. A good rinse can
remove most of any residue
that might be on the plant or produce.

Guillebeau said the FQPA will take into account the total
amount of pesticides we’re
exposed to in all situations, not just through residues in
foods.

So how many people seek treatment for pesticide injury in a
year?

The Consumer Product Safety Commission looked into that. In
1994, about 16,000 people
told emergency room doctors or nurses their injury was from
pesticides. But nearly a
million people were injured on stairs. In our everyday lives,
pesticides are a very small
danger.

For now, the FQPA is an act. The EPA still has to write the
regulations the act
authorizes. Until those are written, Guillebeau won’t even guess
about how it will
ultimately affect us all.

"I can see it putting more stringent protective
standards on all types of
pesticides," he said. "The U.S. food supply is already
the safest in the world.
But this new act ensures our safety based on the most sensitive
members of our
population."