Summer Watermelon Poisonings Hit More People Than Thought

Nearly 1,000 people--almost four times as many as previously estimated--were poisoned by aldicarb-contaminated watermelons last summer in the “largest food-borne pesticide outbreak in North American history,” the state’s chief health official says.

Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer, state director of health services, also said that farmers may be misapplying the deadly pesticide because far more of it is being sold than is being reported in mandatory use permits. He recommended that continued use of the highly toxic pesticide be “reevaluated” by state agriculture officials.

In a letter to agricultural officials last week, Kizer called aldicarb “the most acutely toxic pesticide registered in the U.S.A.” He also warned that “severe and potentially lethal levels of contamination can result from misapplication” on crops such as watermelons.

By law, applicators must report all uses of aldicarb. But comparison of sales and use reports show a “significant discrepancy,” Kizer said in his memo to state Food and Agriculture Director Clare Berryhill, the state’s chief pesticide regulator.

If farmers are using the pesticide on crops for which it is not registered, it is unlikely that state regulators could detect the illegal use because residues are chemically invisible to the state’s routine laboratory tests, Kizer warned.

Berryhill is on vacation, but Associate Director Rex Magee said the agriculture department will reevaluate whether use of the pesticide should continue.

Aldicarb is a long-lasting, systemic insecticide that is applied in the soil before planting. It is used legally on cotton, grain sorghum, potatoes, peanuts and similar crops, but is not registered for use in melons, corn or a wide range of other produce.

Kizer’s letter included a long list of aldicarb poisonings in the United States dating back to the 1970s, including a 1982 case involving watermelons from the same area of Kern County where the contaminated melons came from last year. Three hundred Canadians became ill last summer after eating hydroponically grown cucumbers that were contaminated by aldicarb, Kizer said.

Clinically, the effects of the aldicarb poisonings are flu-like systems that soon disappear, but they also have included “grand mal seizures, cardiac arrhythmias (irregularities), a number of hospitalizations and at least two stillbirths occuring shortly after maternal illness,” Kizer wrote.

Previously, state officials had estimated that 250 people became ill the first week of last July after eating Kern County watermelons that state agriculture inspectors traced to farms owned by Jimmie Icardo, his son Gary Icardo and Tim Yaksitch. A Department of Health Services investigation, however, found that far more had been sickened by the chemical.

Civil charges have been filed against the growers alleging that they violated numerous regulations. They have denied the charges. The contamination came to light only after people became ill throughout California, the Pacific Northwest, Canada and Alaska. Even then, state regulators had a difficult time identifying the cause because aldicarb residues are not easily detected. When aldicarb was finally identified, watermelon sales were halted and melon fields quarantined throughout California until state inspectors “cleared” them, applying a sticker to melons to certify that they were pesticide-free.

State agriculture officials acknowledged that the watermelon contamination revealed their inability to control the amount of such deadly chemicals in use or to detect potentially harmful residues on produce.

“We know there’s a substantial discrepancy between the sales figures and the use reports,” Magee said. “The obvious implication is that somebody’s breaking the law. It’s possible they are bootlegging it onto other crops and we couldn’t detect it.”

Because aldicarb is chemically invisible to the routine screening tests, Magee said, the state is asking Union Carbide, the manufacturer, to come up with a testing procedure that will let state residue monitors detect the chemical. In addition, the state will double the amount of produce it samples in an effort to detect illegal use of the pesticide, he said.

Magee acknowledged that the 1985 watermelon incident “was the largest food-borne pesticide outbreak, no doubt. An awful lot of people were sick.” But he said the “numbers are confusing” because the totals include people who had symptoms that could not be specifically attributed to aldicarb.

In recent weeks, health department hazard evaluators have recommended that all uses of aldicarb be canceled because of the potential danger to consumers, but Kizer overruled this option because it would have forced more frequent use of other pesticides, a department spokesman said.

The problem is illegal use of the pesticide, said Bill Ihle, chief spokesman for the department. “Used appropriately, aldicarb is OK, it’s safe,” he said. “Food and Agriculture agrees and will beef up their enforcement efforts.”

Magee agreed, saying, “You can’t ban a pesticide just because somebody used it illegally,” but not everyone is satisfied with the decision merely to “reevaluate” the use of aldicarb.

“The recommendation . . . to suspend uses of aldicarb would appear to be consistent with the . . . problems outlined by (Kizer’s) memo,” Assemblyman Lloyd G. Connelly (D-Sacramento), wrote both the health director and Berryhill. Connelly and some environmentalists believe aldicarb may not be safe to use under any circumstances.