Risk perception research shows that the public is concerned about potential health effects from pesticide residues on food. However, a thorough analysis of the risks of consuming food with pesticide residues should also include a consideration of the health benefits of consuming fruits and vegetables. The benefits of consuming fruits and vegetables include prevention of cancer, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, etc. For cancer, there are well developed methods that can be used to estimate the benefits from fruit and vegetable consumption and the concomitant risks from the pesticide residues on those fruits and vegetables. This study considers a scenario in which half of the U.S. population increases fruit and vegetable consumption by one serving each per day. Benefits for cancer prevention are estimated from nutritional epidemiology data. Risks from pesticide consumption are estimated using rodent bioassay and pesticide residue data. The results for the scenario considered here suggest that approximately 20,000 cancer cases per year could be prevented by increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, while up to 10 additional cancer cases per year could be caused by the added pesticide consumption. These estimates have significant uncertainties, which will be discussed. Nonetheless, the large difference between benefit and risk estimates provides confidence that the cancer risks from pesticide residues are very small in comparison to the cancer prevention benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption.

Fruits and vegetables are good for you: Cancer risks and benefits as a case study

248th National Meeting (2014)

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