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Environmental Contaminants in Food

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Environmental Contaminants in Food Environmental Contaminants in Food December 1979 NTIS order #PB80-153265 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 79-600207 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 Stock No. 052-003-00724-0 FOREWORD This report presents the major findings of an OTA assessment of Federal and State efforts to deal with the environmental contamination of food. Undertaken at the request of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, the study examines both regulatory approaches and monitoring strategies for coping with contaminated food. The assessment is concerned with chemical and radioactive contaminants that inadvertently find their way into the human food supply. To bring the scope of inquiry within manageable bounds, we excluded naturally occurring toxins such as fungal and microbial toxins. The Office of Technology Assessment was assisted by two advisory panels of scientists and representatives of public interest groups, agriculture, the chemical industry, fisheries, and State and foreign governments. The Food and Drug Ad- ministration, the Department of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency each designated staff members to attend panel meetings, provide back- ground information, and review draft reports, Background papers were commis- sioned concerning the scientific aspects of detecting and regulating environ- mental contaminants in food. The Congressional Research Service provided five analyses of previous food contamination episodes, Reviews of the draft report were provided by the advisory panels, Federal agencies, and a number of inter- ested individuals not previously involved with the assessment. Because this assessment addresses concerns of American citizens as well as policy makers and scientists, the summary of the report is also being published as a separate document. The summary provides the interested citizen with an in- formative and clear overview of this complex problem. Copies of the summary can he obtained free of charge from the office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Con- gress, Washington, D.C. 20510. JOHN H. GIBBONS Director /// .- Tolerance Advisory Panel James Anderson Robert Jackson Richard Merrill Manager for Material Safety Assistant State Health Commissioner School of Law Allied Chemical Corporation Director, Office of Health Protection and University of Virginia Environmental Management Louise Burke Virginia State Health Department Joseph Rosen Executive Director Kazuo K, Kimura Department of Food Science Consumer Council of Virginia Foundation School of Medicine Rutgers University Consumer Council of Virginia, Inc. Wright State University Kenneth Crump Marvin Legator John Rust Department of Mathematics and Statistics Director Professor Emeritus Louisiana Tech University Division of Environmental Toxicology Pharmacology/Radiology Deportment of Preventive Medicine and University of Chicago Donald Epp Community Health Department of Agricultural Economics and University of Texas Medical Branch Gary Van Gelder Rural Sociology David Lindsay College of Veterinary Medicine Pennsylvania Stale [University Technical Secretary University of Missouri Steering Group on Food Surveillance Frederick Halbert Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Dairy Farmer John Van Ryzin Food Delton, Mich. RAND Corporation United Kingdom Joseph Highland Roy Mart in George Whitehead Chairman Director Deputy Director Toxic Chemicals Program Science and Technology Office for Consumer Affairs Environmental Defense Fund National Fisheries Institute, Inc. Michigan Department of Agriculture Monitoring Advisory Panel Raymond Allred William Cooper S. Roy Koirtyohann Director Professor Environmental Trace Substances Center Environmental Conservation Research Department of Zoology University of Missouri Continental Oil Company College of Natural Science Michigan State University Charles Krister Richard Anderson Retired Manager Chairman John Davies Chairman Biochemicals Department Statistics Department E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Company University of Kentucky Department of Epidemiology and Public Health John Bourke School of Medicine John Laseter Director Universitv of Miami Director Analytical Division Blake Early Center for Bio-Organic Studies Food Science Department Environmental Action, Inc. University of New or leans Cornell University Edward Elkins Vaughan Bowen Director John Martin Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Chemistry Division Moss Landing Marine Laboratories Washington Research Laboratory Shirley Briggs National Food Processors’ Association Rebecca Sharitz Executive Director Ronald J. Hingle Savannah River Ecology Laboratories Rachel Carson Trust for the Living University of Georgia Environment, Inc. Administrator Food and Drug Control Unit Leon Chesnin Bureau of Environmental Services Gerald Ward Department of Agronomy Louisiana Office of Health Services and Department of Animal Science University of Nebraska Environmental Quality Colorado State University Iv Food and Renewable Resources Program Staff Joyce C. Lashof, Assistant Director Health and Life Sciences Division J. B. Cordaro, Program Manager* Walter Parham, Program Manager Catherine Woteki, Project Director Robert Smith, Research Assistant Chris Elf ring, OTA Congressional Fellow Administrative Staff Phyllis Balan Elizabeth Galloway Ogechee Koffler Contractors Lloyd W. Hazleton, Technical Advisor to Tolerance Panel Robert Huggett, Technical Advisor to Monitoring Panel Samuel Iker, Editor OTA Publishing Staff John C. Holmes, Publishing Officer Kathie S. Boss Joanne Heming Food Advisory Committee Martin E. Abel, Chairmen Lorne Greene Robert 0. Nesheim Senior Vice President Chairman of the Board Vice President, Science and Schnittker Associates American Freedom From Technology Hunger Foundation The Quaker oats Company Johanna Dwyer, Co-Chairman Kathleen O’Reilly Director Richard L. Hall Frances Stern Nutrition Center Director Vice President, Science and Consumer Federation of America Technology David Call McCormick & Company, Inc. R. Dennis Rouse Dean, College of Agricultural Dean, School of Agriculture and Life Sciences Auburn University Cornell University Laura Heuser Member, Board of Directors Lauren Seth Cy Carpenter Agricultural Council of America Agricultural Consultant President Minnesota Farmers Union Arnold Mayer Thomas Sporleder Legislative Representative Professor of Agricultural Eliot Coleman Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Economics Director Butcher Workmen of North Texas A&M University Coolidge Center for the America Sylvan Wittwer Study of Agriculture Director and Assistant Dean Almeta Edwards Fleming Max Milner College of Agriculture and Social Program Coordinator Executive Director Natural Resources Florence County, S.C. American Institute of Nutrition Michigan State University *Resigned June 16, 1979, and continued to serve under contract to assessment completion. Contents Chapter Page I. Summary . `“ “ “ “ ● ● ● “ ● 00 G o “ ● “ o ● ● o ● o ● “ o ● 00 “ ● “ o “ “ “ 3 Health Impacts of Environmental Contamination. 4 Economic Impacts of Contamination. ““ .“ . ““. ““. “ .“ 4 Major Problems in Identifying Environmental Contaminants . 5 Problems of Regulating Environmental Contaminants. 5 Findings and Conclusions . “ “ “ “ . “ “ “ . m “ “ “ o “ o “ . “ . “ “ “ “ 6 Congressional Options. ..” . “ “ “ “ .0. “ o ‘. “ c o “ o “ “ o “ “ “ ““ 9 Option l.--Maintain the Present System . ..........”””’ . .. .”.”””. 9 Option2.—Amend the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act . 9 Option 3 .—Establish an Investigatory Monitoring System. 10 Option 4.— Improve Federal Response to New Contamination Incidents . 10 15 II. Environmental Contamination of Food.”~””.”. .“””.’””ooooQo ● +00 ”00”0 How Food Becomes Contaminated . .........””””” ....”””..”.... .“”” 16 Magnitude of the problem . .“.”””””.”..”. “...” 19 Evidence of Human Illness Resulting From Consumption of Contaminated Food. ...””””””.””.” “o” ”””.. 19 Polychlorinated Biphenyls. “ ~ . “ “ m “ “ ~ 0. ~ 0. “ “ o ~ . 19 Polybrominated Biphenyls . ..........”””” ..”””.””” .“.”.”.”””.” 20 Mercury and Methylmercury . “ . “ “ ~ ~ .“ “ “ ~ “ . “ “ 0. 21 Radioactivity . “ “ “O 00 “ ““ ~ s o “ ~ 000 s Q “ o “ “ s “ o “ 22 Number of Food Contamination Incidents. “ . ““” ~ “ “ “.” 23 Economic Impact . ..””””.”” “0”””00.0””””. ““s””” 25 Costs of Food Condemned. ..”.”. “. ““””.””””.”” 25 Health Costs... .....,..””””.” 0“0.o’0”””””00 ““”””””.. 26 Distributional Effects and Costs . “ ““ “ . “ . “ “ “ “ “ .0 “ ““ 27 Potential Food Contamination problems. .“ .“ “ . “. ‘“” ““ “ “ 29 Conclusions and Issues . “ . “ “ ~ “ . ~ ~ . ~ “ ~ . “ “ “ “ o “ “ o ~ o “ s “ “ 29 Chapter II References . “ “ “ ~ “ . “ 0.0. s o “ 0000. s “ “ . 30 35 111. Federal Laws, Regulations, and Programs” . “ “ “ “ “ 00 ● o “ o “ ● 0000 Federal Laws. “ “ .“” “ “ ““ “O . “ “ “ 000 “ “.” ~ o ‘ . “ 00 “ .- e o 35 Action Levels and Tolerances. “ ‘ “ “ “ “ “ ~ “ “ ~ “ “ “ ~ o “ o “ “ o “ “ ~ 37 Criteria forgetting Action Levels and Tolerances . 38 Determining Action Levels and Tolerances . “ . “ . “ “ “ “ . 39 Evaluation of the Scientific Data. .“” . ““ “ ““ ~ ““” “ “ “ 39 Evaluation of Decisionmaking Approach . ““ . .“ “.” . “ “ 41 Federal Monitoring programs. “ . “ “ . “ “ 000 “ “ s m “ . “ “ “ “ ~ 42 Food and Drug Administration . “ “ . “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ .0 “ o ‘ “ “ “ . 42 U.S. Department of Agriculture . “ . “ “ ‘ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ o “ “ 0.00 43 Environmental Protection Agency . .......”..”.”.o ““” ”s”s.”s 44 Critique of Federal Monitoring programs. “ . “ . “ 45 Chapter III References . ““” ““”” ~
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