Paul Cherubini wrote:
> According to the EPA
> http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/op/coumaphos/summary.htm
>
> "Dietary Risks are low:  Acute and chronic risks from food
> treated with coumaphos do not exceed the Agency¼s level of
> concern."

        I vividly recall visiting EPA HQ in the Nixon period and being told
calmly by a senior staffer "you can set your level of concern high enough
so it doesn't impact on current practice".  I was startled at the candour
(or as he would probably have put it, candor) of this man in disclosing to
me a regulatory charade.
        The actual pollutants I was there to discuss with him were nothing
like coumaphos (but nuclear industry byproducts); however, the principle  -
if that's the right word  -  is the same.

R