Report from the Sub-comittee on the environment and health

ut preliminary studies indicate that particularly <strong>the</strong> broad-spectrum
antibiotics have serious effects on microorganisms, whereas <strong>the</strong> effects
on soil arthropods are relatively limited. Seen in relation to pesticides,
veterinary pharmaceuticals and growth promoters constitute a potential
risk of development of resistance in microorganisms, making treatment
of infections in domestic animals and humans difficult. As far as <strong>the</strong>
effects in <strong>the</strong> environment are concerned, veterinary pharmaceuticals and
growth promoters probably constitute less of a risk than pesticides.
However, <strong>the</strong>re is a lack of studies of <strong>the</strong>se matters - particularly of <strong>the</strong>
risk of pollution of <strong>the</strong> groundwater.
7.2.2 Chemical substances in food products
Besides pesticide residues, food products contain a large number of
contaminants and chemical substances, partly anthropogenous and partly
of natural origin. In <strong>the</strong> Government’s report on food safety, <strong>the</strong>se food
components are systematically reviewed (Danish Government 1998).
There follows a comparative analysis of <strong>the</strong> health consequences of
pesticide residues in food products.
Many factors affect food safety. They include:
• naturally occurring toxic substances, e.g. algal toxins in mussels
• residues <strong>from</strong> medical treatment of animals, e.g., antibiotics
• contaminants <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> environment, e.g. dioxins
• pesticide residues, e.g. <strong>from</strong> weed control
• additives and aromatics added intentionally to improve, for example,
colour, taste and shelf-life
• migration <strong>from</strong> packaging
• chemical compounds formed during preparation, e.g. fried food
mutagens.
Table 7.1 lists <strong>the</strong> health effects of <strong>the</strong> different contaminants of food
products. The cause of health effects is shown, toge<strong>the</strong>r with an
assessment of <strong>the</strong> risk to humans given as <strong>the</strong> number of deaths or cases
of poisoning per year or a safety margin between <strong>the</strong> actual exposure and
NOAEL. The table shows that residues of <strong>the</strong> (individual) present
pesticides have a large safety margin of 1000. They are thus less
dangerous than <strong>the</strong> old, persistent chlorinated pesticides, which have a
safety margin of 10-500, depending on <strong>the</strong> individual substance. The
heavy metals lead, cadmium and mercury are far more dangerous to
humans that pesticide residues, having a safety margin of only 2-10. It is
at <strong>the</strong> same time thought that toxic constituents in food plants, such as
glycoalkaloids in potatoes and tomatoes, lectins in dried beans, prussic
acid glycosides in apricot kernels, bamboo shoots and flax seed, toge<strong>the</strong>r
with phenylhydrazines in mushrooms, constitute a greater risk than
pesticide residues. There is growing interest in <strong>the</strong>se toxic substances
because <strong>the</strong>ir content in food plants can be inadvertently increased by
genetic modification. Special attention is being paid to this in <strong>the</strong> risk
analysis of genetically modified plants. Lastly, <strong>the</strong>re is nitrate, which is
deemed to be a bigger problem in drinking water than pesticide residues
in <strong>the</strong> current concentrations.
Table 7.1
Health effects <strong>from</strong> different contaminants in food products. For each type of
contaminant, <strong>the</strong> figure shows <strong>the</strong> number of deaths, cases of poisoning or o<strong>the</strong>r
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