7 Citizen Groups Resign From Safety Panel

Seven consumer and environmental groups serving on a food safety committee advising the Environmental Protection Agency resigned, saying the committee’s members could not agree on new guidelines for pesticide residue levels in food. The resigning members, which include the Natural Resources Defense Council, Consumers Union and the Farmworker Justice Fund, said the EPA will not meet its August goal of reassessing the most harmful pesticides such as organophosphates and carbamates because of protracted debate with member representatives of the chemical industry. In a resignation letter to EPA Deputy Administrator Peter Robertson and Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Richard Rominger, the groups said, “EPA’s indecision on these high-risk chemicals leaves everyone . . . vulnerable.” The 49-member Tolerance Reassessment Advisory Committee was created to help implement the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act.