Warning over supermarket pesticides

Many of our most popular foods are contaminated by a cocktail of potentially harmful chemicals, a new study warns today.

A Friends of the Earth survey of nine leading supermarkets found that an alarming range of everyday purchases - from apples, lettuce and carrots to sausages, milk, eggs and baby food - contained traces of pesticides.

The Somerfield chain came out worst in the survey, which showed 60 per cent of its fruit and vegetables contained the residues, although a spokesman insisted all its products were within UK safety guidelines. Morrison's came top, with less than half its fruit and vegetables containing pesticide residues.

Pesticides commonly found in supermarket foods include substances suspected of interfering with the hormone and nervous systems.

The latest findings led to renewed calls for the use of the most dangerous pesticides to be phased out.

Sandra Bell, pesticide campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: "There is too much hype from supermarkets about their plans to cut pesticide use, and not enough action. Government action is needed too. Stricter limits for pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables must be introduced and more is needed to help UK farmers produce pesticide-free food. There is increasing evidence that even a low level of pesticides can have an effect on human health."

Marks and Spencer and the Co-op have already introduced policies to phase-out particular pesticides and aim for residue free food. Last month, regulations were brought in to ensure processed baby food was free of pesticides. But campaigners are concerned that the same rules do not apply to fresh fruit and vegetables.

A spokeswoman for Somerfield said: "The products we sell all comply with UK regulations and are safe. Our focus is on developing improvements through integrated crop management with our growers - this will deliver long-term sustained benefits."

The FoE statistics were released prior to the publication of the latest official data on pesticide residues, due out today. The green group survey-looked at information from the Pesticides Safety Directorate from 1998 to 2000, which is based on tests conducted on a variety of mainly fresh foods and drink.

The last set of tests found chemical levels in 11 of the fruit and vegetables above Maximum Residue Levels, a standard regarded as acceptable in agriculture. The study also detected eight pesticides which are not approved for use in the UK.

? The world's largest conservation charity, the Worldwide Fund for Nature, was today criticised as "alarmist" for an advertising campaign highlighting the risks to humans of chemicals in food. The newspaper advert, headlined "Who cares where toxic chemicals end up?", showed a picture of a foetus with the wording: "The womb should be the safest place on earth. But today our bodies are contaminated with over 300 man-made chemicals, to which our greatgrandparents were never exposed."

The Advertising Standards Authority said the advert could prove "unduly alarming" to mothers with young children or those considering having a baby. WWF-UK said its aim was to "heighten awareness of a real concern" but stressed it did not intend to "cause undue alarm or distress or to mislead".