Kunia farmers
persist despite
heptachlor risk

Some have continued to grow
cucumbers despite warnings
that they pick up
the pesticide

By Gary T. Kubota
Star-Bulletin

Some farmers have continued to grow cucumbers on former sugar cane land in Kunia in Central Oahu despite state warnings about the risk of heptachlor contamination.

State officials have warned farmers not to grow cucumbers on former pineapple and sugar cane land because the vegetable seems to absorb high levels of heptachlor.

State health officials say they have been unable to test for heptachlor on the farms, because of cutbacks in inspectors and the lack of regulation.

Officials say monitoring is difficult because farmers tend to rotate crops and change the location of where they raise the cucumbers.

"They're basically engaging in a cat-and-mouse game with the department due to the cutbacks, and the cat is missing a leg or two and the farmers believe the cat is not likely to catch any mice," said Gary Gill, state deputy director for environmental health.

Heptachlor was used as a pesticide to control soil insects in sugar cane in Hawaii from 1979 to 1984 and pineapple from 1952 to 1993.

Officials say that at high levels, heptachlor can cause central nervous system damage and has been classified as a probable cancer-causing chemical by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Gill said food testing has been reduced to a third of what it once was and the testing is generally done by taking samples of produce from wholesalers.

State officials say they have warned farmers about the risk of heptachlor in cucumbers grown on former pineapple and sugar land but don't have the authority to prevent them from growing any crops.

Officials detected heptachlor residue in cucumbers from Kunia in March 1998. The cucumbers were found to contain heptachlor at 26 parts per billion, above the 20 parts per billion federal limit for this type of vegetable.

Cucumbers on former pineapple land on Molokai were found to contain 34 parts per billion of heptachlor in April. The cucumbers were recalled and destroyed.

State officials say they can't shut down a farm, even if the soil contains heptachlor, because the crop may not have any detectable level of pesticide.

Robert Boesch, the state agricultural pesticide program manager, said that two to six small farms ranging in size from one to two acres were growing cucumbers in July, two months after the state warning.

Allan Izen, supervisor of the state food monitoring section, said as far as he knows, the risk of injury from heptachlor is small because the level of contamination has been low.

"In my opinion, no consumer of food needs to worry about this," Izen said. "As far as we know the potential for this to be a problem is very low. To be injured by heptachlor, you need long-term exposure."

Izen said inspectors conduct tests two days a month and gather 20 samples of produce on each day from a wholesaler.