To the Editor:
Michael Fumento (Op-Ed, June 30) plays down the hazards of pesticides to children, suggesting that officials instead focus on improving children's diets and eradicating cockroaches, whose droppings cause asthma attacks. As a pediatrician, I strongly endorse the call to address these major problems, but I think Mr. Fumento's cry is a distraction.
There are fundamental differences between pesticides and these other threats. Because pesticides are odorless and tasteless, and because foods that have been treated with them are often not properly labeled, families have almost no control over pesticide levels in the foods they purchase. Second, unlike cockroach droppings, pesticide levels on foods are highly amenable to control by the Government.
Under the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, the Environmental Protection Agency has a responsibility to issue clear new standards to sharply limit insecticides that harm chil-dren.
PHILIP J. LANDRIGAN, M.D.
New York, July 2, 1998
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