2002 World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists

Carcinogenic risks posed by pesticide residues on food are an important motivation for pesticide regulation in the United States. Some attention has been given in the regulatory process to the risks posed by those chemicals that may be used in place of a banned pesticide, but the risks raised by economic responses to the regulations have generally not been considered, despite statutory justification for taking such effects into account. One such response occurs through the price mechanism: if the regulation increases marginal costs and hence market prices, then consumers will respond to the regulation by consuming fewer fruits and vegetables which are well known to have health benefits. This change in diet poses its own health risks that must be weighed against the reduced risk from exposure to pesticide residues. The study incorporates recent medical findings in a series of simulations designed to calculate the magnitude of countervailing health risks that result from pesticide regulation. The initial element in each simulation is the ban of class of pesticides. The change in the diet of a sample of 20,000 consumers is then calculated. Finally, dietary changes are related to the incidence of various diseases using published dose-response functions. Results indicate that certain pesticide bans lead to increased incidence of common health problems resulting from decreased fruit and vegetable consumption. Some regulations result in a shifting of health risks from certain classes of consumers to others. Furthermore, the overall effect of some pesticide bans may be that more lives are lost than saved.



	Paper Title:	Pesticide Use And Food Safety
	Presenting Author:	David Sunding (University of California, Berkeley)
	Coauthor 1:	Sean Cash
	Coauthor 2:	David Zilberman
	Coauthor 3:
	Abstract:	Carcinogenic risks posed by pesticide residues on food are an important motivation for pesticide regulation in the United States. Some attention has been given in the regulatory process to the risks posed by those chemicals that may be used in place of a banned pesticide, but the risks raised by economic responses to the regulations have generally not been considered, despite statutory justification for taking such effects into account. One such response occurs through the price mechanism: if the regulation increases marginal costs and hence market prices, then consumers will respond to the regulation by consuming fewer fruits and vegetables which are well known to have health benefits. This change in diet poses its own health risks that must be weighed against the reduced risk from exposure to pesticide residues. The study incorporates recent medical findings in a series of simulations designed to calculate the magnitude of countervailing health risks that result from pesticide regulation. The initial element in each simulation is the ban of class of pesticides. The change in the diet of a sample of 20,000 consumers is then calculated. Finally, dietary changes are related to the incidence of various diseases using published dose-response functions. Results indicate that certain pesticide bans lead to increased incidence of common health problems resulting from decreased fruit and vegetable consumption. Some regulations result in a shifting of health risks from certain classes of consumers to others. Furthermore, the overall effect of some pesticide bans may be that more lives are lost than saved.
	Link to paper:	Not available

	Session / Day / Time	1H / Monday / 8:00 - 10:00 am

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