Pesticide-testing program halted

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has abruptly halted a government program that tests the levels of pesticides in fruits, vegetables and field crops, arguing that the $8 million-a-year program is too expensive — a decision critics say could make it harder to protect consumers from chemicals in their food.

Data from the 18-year-old Agricultural Chemical Usage Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) were collected until this year, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) used the data to set safe levels of pesticides in food.

The information was also widely used by university and food-industry researchers, including a University of Illinois program to help farmers reduce the amount of pesticides they use.

The program was launched in 1990 to answer congressional concerns over the use of the chemical daminozide, or Alar, on apples. But Mark Miller of USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service, which administered the program, said the program is too expensive.

The decision was criticized by researchers at the EPA and elsewhere who have come to rely on the data, which measure how much pesticide farmers apply to certain crops each year.

Since 1990, the program has included tests on about 120 different kinds of fruits, vegetables and field crops, such as spinach and apples.

The Agriculture Department had been scaling back the program over the last several years, alternating which fruits and vegetables are tested. In 2007, Miller said, USDA tested only cotton and apples.

Bill Jordan, a senior adviser in the agency's pesticides office, said it's now buying expensive, privately collected data and relying on older information.