If Ag-Mart cared, it could have vetted its pesticides

I'm writing in a state of bewildered awe after seeing baby Carlitos, one of the three children with severe birth defects born to agricultural workers in the Immokalee area ("Grower drops suspect pesticides," Oct. 1). That Ag-Mart is discontinuing the use of five selected pesticides is a positive step, though too little, too late. Most pesticides engender safety concerns, but one of the products Ag-Mart intends to drop, Mancozeb (Penncozeb), is particularly clearly implicated in the risk of birth defects.

How could state supervisory agencies and a corporation where "our employees are our number one concern" allow pregnant women (or anyone) to experience exposure to Mancozeb? I am no expert, yet it took me only about 30 seconds on the Internet to find the following words about Mancozeb by following a link from the Environmental Protection Agency Web site: "A major toxicological concern in situations of chronic exposure is the generation of ethylenethiourea (ETU) in the course of Mancozeb metabolism... this metabolite has produced birth defects and cancer in experimental animals."

Any fool could find this tidbit and plenty more. Try it — the internet address is: http://extoxnet.orst.edu/ghindex.html, then type "Mancozeb" into the search function. You might hope that the authorities responsible for pesticide supervision might be able to type "Mancozeb" into Google. Carlitos never will be able to.

GEORGE ROGERS