Re-assessment of lindane safety

A reassessment of the organochlorine insecticide lindane by a well-respected international committee of experts has concluded that consumer safety limits can be exceeded by over 12 times.

The Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues, has set a new more stringent acceptable daily intake (ADI) for the insecticide lindane of 0.001 mg/kg/body weight. For a 60 kg adult, therefore the maximum daily dose should not exceed 0.06 mg in total. The ADI is the amount of pesticide that can be consumed every day for a lifetime without harm.
    Codex data discussed at a recent meeting shows that a person consuming an average local diet in any region of the world could theoretically exceed the ADI for lindane by between 3.8 and 12 times if foods containing the maximum lindane residues were consumed. The highest consumption of lindane in food occurs in Europe where a theoretical maximum daily intake (TMDI) of lindane in a typical diet would reach 0.742 mg, or 1,237% of the ADI.
    Jeff Rooker, Deputy Agriculture Minister, has responded to this issue from a UK perspective. "The new Codex ADI is based on a TMDI that represents a worst case scenario and not what is happening in practice. UK estimates of average dietary intake mean for an adult the exposure to lindane would be 5% of the ADI; the worst exposure would be for an infant at 50% of the ADI," he said.
    Mr Rooker continued: "The review of lindane carried out by Austria on behalf of the European Union, the new Codex ADI and the international developments to control persistent organic pollutants (POPs) [which may include lindane] are likely to lead to further restrictions on the use of lindane."

FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme, Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues, 13 Session, The Hague, The Netherlands, 20-25 April, 1998.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 40, June 1998, page 15]