NSW consumers exposed to heavy diet of toxics

Commenting on a story on page 3 of today's Sydney Morning Herald ('Consumers blind to toxic dangers at greengrocer', 3 July 2009), Dr Kaye said: "Despite  NSW Food Minister Ian Macdonald's statements to parliament, there has been no independent, comprehensive testing for agricultural chemical residues in fruit and vegetables in this state since 2005.
 
"The last set of publicly available results is from 2005. It showed 2.4 per cent of all fruit and 5.3 percent of all vegetables sold at Sydney Markets exceeded safe limits on dangerous pesticides, herbicides and other farm chemicals.
 
"The average Sydney household is likely to have consumed contaminated vegetables or fruit in at least one week's worth of shopping in the last year.
 
"The long term health consequences of on-going exposure to endosulfan, atrazine, 2,4-D and malathion are unacceptable
 
"The NSW government has abandoned consumers to the ideology of self-regulation.
 
"Unlike at least three other states, it conducts no mandatory independent systematic testing for farm chemicals.
 
"Testing in NSW is voluntary and results are kept secret.
 
"Minister Macdonald told parliament earlier this year that the NSW ‘Food Authority regularly undertakes testing for residues.'
 
"A thorough search of the Authority's annual reports shows that this is not true.
 
"Consumers in this state  are at the mercy of their fruit and vegetable suppliers.
 
"Minister Macdonald must restore the system of mandatory testing of samples of all types of fruit and vegetables. Protecting households and in particular young people is more important than appeasing the big
fruit and vegetable wholesalers," Dr Kaye said.
 
The Herald story is available at:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/consumers-blind-to-toxic-dangers-at-greengrocer-20090702-d6k6.html
 
For more information: John Kaye 0407 195 455