SACRAMENTO — Rejecting the advice of a committee of scientists, state Food and Agriculture Department Director Henry J. Voss said Monday that he will continue to permit the use of the controversial pesticide aldicarb, despite concerns that the chemical poses a threat to the state's underground water supplies.
In contrast to the scientific panel, Voss said that "no pollution or threat of pollution exists" with the legal application of aldicarb, which was responsible for a widespread outbreak of pesticide poisoning after it was applied illegally on a portion of the state's watermelon crop in 1985.
Voss' decision was immediately attacked by representatives of environmental groups, who contended that the agriculture director ignored the evidence of danger to public health from the chemical.
One of those groups, the Natural Resources Defense Council, said it is considering legal action to try to overturn Voss' decision.
"We do not agree with the finding that aldicarb is not polluting ground water," said Jennifer Curtis, a research associate with the environmental group. "There is extensive evidence in this state and in seven other states that it is."
However, Voss said testing of 49 wells in areas of the state where aldicarb was used most heavily turned up no evidence that the chemical was contaminating underground water supplies. And discontinuing its application in California would have a severe economic impact on farmers growing cotton and sugar beets, Voss said.
Voss discounted tests conducted in the Central Valley by aldicarb's manufacturer, Rhone-Poulenc. The studies showed that the pesticide moves easily through soil to ground water 50 feet below and persists for at least two to three years.
Those tests were central to the scientific committee's findings last month that the chemical is a threat to water supplies and that no change in the way it is used could assure public safety.
Voss also refused to consider findings that the use of aldicarb on commercially grown flower bulbs had led to contamination of wells in two Northern California counties where local agricultural commissioners had banned its use.
The recommendation was made by a committee of scientists from the Department of Health Services, the State Water Resources Control Board and the Department of Food and Agriculture. The committee reviews any pesticide found in state ground water. The scientist from the agriculture department dissented from his two colleagues and recommended that aldicarb not be banned.
