c detoxification abilities that adults do, and consume more food for their body size than adults.

The EPA's restriction on allowable pesticide residues in food were based on standards using adult data until 1996, when Congress passed the Food Quality Protection Act requiring the EPA to ensure that pesticide residue standards be 10 times stricter for children.

New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey are suing the EPA, asserting that the EPA has failed to meet Congressional requirements to protect children from the risks of consuming food with unhealthy pesticide residues.

The focus of the lawsuit is on five pesticides widely used on foods frequently consumed by children. The lawsuit also asserts that the EPA has also failed to set standards on other pesticides.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumental said: "The EPA's failure to protect children from poisonous pesticides is unconscionable and unlawful. It makes everyday foods potential poison traps. Pesticides kill pests because they disrupt and destroy vital life systems - and can have the same toxic effects on children if their residues remain on food."

New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey said: "This lawsuit focuses on pesticides used on foods that parents feed their children every day, including corn, wheat, rice, peanuts, carrots, squash, apples and bananas. Congress sought to ensure that children would be safe from toxic pesticides by requiring strict residue standards. By waiving or reducing the additional safety factor in the absence of adequate scientific research, the EPA has potentially put children at risk."

In the United States, more than 724 million pounds of pesticides are used each year to kill insects and weeds. Since 1996, the EPA approval for pesticides must consider the unique health risks pesticides pose to children, especially at lower doses.

Pesticides can cause a range of health problems such as damage to the nervous system, cancer, reproductive dysfunction, and damage to the immune and endocrine systems.

Children are particularly at risk when they consume food with excessive pesticide residue because they:

Child health and public health advocates applauded the lawsuit filed by the four states.

Erik Olson, Senior Attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council said: "We applaud the Attorneys General for suing the Bush Administration to protect our children from toxic pesticides. Unless the Bush administration is brought into court, it will continue to be more concerned with protecting the chemical industry and big agribusiness." The five pesticides named in the lawsuit that are widely used on children's food are: Alachlor, Chlorothalonil, Methomyl, Metribuzin and Thiodicarb.

The EPA's own data indicates the foods on which the pesticides are used:

Alachlor

corn, soybeans, peanuts

Chlorothalonil

bananas, broccoli, carrots, corn, peaches, peanuts, potatoes, soybeans, squash, tomatoes

Methomyl

apples, beans, broccoli, corn, grapes, oats, oranges, peaches, peanuts, pears, soybeans, tomatoes, wheat

Metribuzin

carrots, potatoes, soybeans, sugar cane, tomatoes, wheat

Thiodicarb

corn, soy beans

~ Cathy Wong

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