b'SENSE, NONSENSE AND SCIENCEBY: JOE SCHWARCZTHE ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP IS SCARING US AGAIN - OR IS IT?S o, here we go. Something else to worry about. At least according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit advocate, some would say alarmist, organization that states as its goal the providing of easy access to infor-mation you need to make smart, healthy choices. Those choices usually favour organic products. EWG is generally crit-ical of the pesticides used in conventional agriculture and of many of the additives used by the food industry. This time the target is chlormequat, a plant growth reg-ulator that is sometimes used on oats, barley and wheat to strengthen the stalk, keep-ing it from bending over. This reduces crop loss when it comes to harvesting, which of course is profitable for the farmer and hope-fully reduces the price for the consumer.Canada allows the use of chlormequat, but the U.S. does not, although it allows the import of crops that have been treated with the chemical as long as residues are less than 40 parts per million. That number is based upon the No Observed Adverse Event Level (NOAEL) which is the max-imum dose fed to animals without causing any effect. That number then is divided bywhich is way below the acceptable dailymanently. Conversely, vitamin B12 can be 100 to provide an extra margin of safetyintake. As far as the oats go, the highestportrayed as a devil by claiming, correctly, when it comes to determining the amountamount detected was 0.3 parts per million,that it contains cyanide, while keeping quiet that can be safely consumed by humans in awhich is way below 40 ppm, the amountabout the insignificant amount it contains. day. That calculates to about 1 mg. of residue allowed. Someone would haveSimilarly, apple juice can be linked to Satan The Environmental Working Groupto eat roughly 3 kg of oat cereal a day toby pointing out that it can contain patu-purchased 96 urine samples. No, you wontreach a level where there may be some risk,lin, a genotoxic, potentially carcinogenic find these in your pharmacy, but there arewere that amount eaten every day. Third,compound. You just conveniently have companies that can provide them. They alsothe fertility problems were seen in animalsignored the fact that several gallons would tested samples of oat cereals for the pres- fed higher doses than what humans couldhave to be consumed to raise any spectre of ence of the chemical. The results they foundpossibly consume and were seen in someharm. Actually, somewhat less if the juice generated headlines that screamed about 80studies but not others. is organic, because patulin is produced by a per cent of consumers having a chemical inIt is easy to scare people about chem- mould that is more likely to infect organic their urine that causes fertility problems,icals if proper context is not provided.produce that is not protected by chemicals.and that this same chemical is found in oatRemember that we are exposed to thou- Numbers matter in science, and when cereals. This needs some commentary. sands and thousands of chemicals everyyou crunch the numbers about chlorm-First, based on only 96 urine samplesday, the vast majority from natural sources.equat, taking into account the amount of from unidentified donors, it is not valid toThere are potential stories behind every one,the residues found in food, the frequency conclude that 80 per cent of consumers inand with cherry picked and out-of- contextwith which those foods are consumed, the general have chlormequat in their urine.data, it is possible to label them as devils oracceptable daily intake, and the nebulous Also, finding it in the urine means that itangels. Strychnine can be made to soundstudies of the chemicals toxicity, I think its passes out of the body, which it is known toangelic by focussing on its energy boostingpotential effect on health is pretty much of do quickly. Second, the amount detected ineffect, as long as you dont mention that aa non-issue. Unless you want to make it one the urine was of the order of 50 nanograms,slight overdose will rob you of energy per- by presenting data out of context.18ISEED WORLD EUROPEISEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPE'