Pesticides in food and their effect on children was the subject of controversy in The Hague last week. Consumers International (CI) accused an international standards body of failing to adequately protect children against pesticides in foodstuffs. CI, the global federation of consumer organisations, says the United Nations' Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues is not looking after children's health.

At a meeting last week, an expert body concluded that there is no basis for Codex to change its approach in setting standards for pesticides in order to address the vulnerability of children and that additional safety factors to protect children against exposures to pesticides are not justified, said CI.

The statement was strongly denounced by CI which noted that the report cites no scientific sources and provides no basis for the opinions presented.

CI has consistently urged the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residue to improve its procedures to counter a child's greater exposure and susceptibility to many pesticides.

The report stands in sharp contrast to an expert report by the US National Academy of Sciences which found that children are at greater risk from pesticides and that current approaches to setting standards do not adequately protect them, says CI. Based on that report, the US now has legislation that requires an additional tenfold safety factor to be used to protect children, according to the consumer organisation.

"A fundamental ?????tenent of paediatric medicine is that children are not just little adults," said Dr Philip Landrigan, who was chair of the National Academy of Sciences Committee that produced the US pesticide report.

The consumer body recommends that Codex address the "cumulative risk from multiple residues of pesticides with a common mode of action and not set limits for pesticides on a case-by-case basis." CI believes priority should be given to a class of pesticides that is toxic to the nervous system and affects children.

CI says Codex should also consider either setting a very low limit for pesticide residues in baby formula and baby food or applying an additional safety factor in the absence of complete and reliable evidence of no harm being presented to infants and children.