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    FAO/PL:1967/M/11/1
    WHO/Food Add./68.30

    1967 EVALUATIONS OF SOME PESTICIDE RESIDUES IN FOOD

    THE MONOGRAPHS

    The content of this document is the result of the deliberations of the
    Joint Meeting of the FAO Working Party of Experts and the WHO Expert
    Committee on Pesticide Residues, which met in Rome, 4 - 11 December,
    1967. (FAO/WHO, 1968)

    FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
    WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
    Rome, 1968

    HEPTACHLOR

    This pesticide was evaluated by the 1966 Joint Meeting of the FAO
    Working Party and the WHO Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues
    (FAO/WHO, 1967).

    Although there are no important new data available which might change
    the previous recommendations for temporary tolerances, the previously
    recommended practical residue limits were reconsidered in the light of
    comments made by some member countries of the Codex Alimentarius
    Committee on Pesticide Residues at its second session in the Hague in
    September 1967. This reconsideration has resulted in the following
    revision of recommendations.

    RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TOLERANCES AND PRACTICAL RESIDUE LIMITS

    Temporary tolerances

    See FAO/WHO, 1967.

    Practical residue limits

    The manufacturer confirms that the USA is the largest user of
    heptachlor in the world. The number of approved recommendations for
    use and actual scale of use in the USA exceed those of any other
    country. Heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide residues found in a total
    of 49,356 domestic samples of food and 3,836 import samples during the
    period 1 July 1963 - 30 June 1966, were found at a frequency of 7.5
    per cent in domestic food and 1.5 per cent in imports. (Corresponding
    figures for other pesticides were : DDT, 26.7 per cent and 30.4 per
    cent; dieldrin, 17.8 per cent and 13.1 per cent; lindane, 4.8 per cent
    and 1.5 per cent). In total diet studies carried out over
    approximately the same period, the average amount of heptachlor
    epoxide in food was reported at 0.00004 mg/kg body weight (Duggan and
    Dawson, 1967), i.e. less than 10 per cent of the ADI recommended by
    the 1966 FAO/WHO Joint Meeting. Since the ADI is arrived at with a
    view to a lifetime of consumption by man, this USA average incidence
    and intake of these residues in food is a significant guideline to
    residues that can be expected to occur in the diet from the highest
    scale of use known.

    Consequently, a realistic revision is recommended of practical residue
    limits for the total of heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide as follows :

         whole milk                                        0.005 ppm
         products manufactured from milk (on a fat basis)  0.125 ppm
         fat of meat                                       0.2   ppm
         cereals                                           0.02  ppm
         vegetables                                        0.05  ppm

    These temporary practical residue limits are recommended until 31
    December 1970.

    FURTHER WORK

    Further work required before 31 June 1970

    1.   Additional data on total diet studies on both domestic and       
         imported food.

    2.   Additional data on disappearance of residues during food
         processing and preparation for consumption.

    REFERENCES PERTINENT TO EVALUATION FOR TOLERANCES

    Duggan, R.E. and Dawson, K. Pesticides. (1967) A report on residues in
    food. FDA Papers, 1 : 2-10.

    FAO/WHO. (1967) Evaluation of some pesticide residues in food. FAO
    Mtg. Rept. No. PL:CP/15; WHO/Food Add./67.32.
    


    See Also:
       Toxicological Abbreviations
       Heptachlor (EHC 38, 1984)
       Heptachlor (HSG 14, 1988)
       Heptachlor (ICSC)
       Heptachlor (PIM 578)
       Heptachlor (FAO Meeting Report PL/1965/10/1)
       Heptachlor (FAO/PL:CP/15)
       Heptachlor (FAO/PL:1968/M/9/1)
       Heptachlor (FAO/PL:1969/M/17/1)
       Heptachlor (AGP:1970/M/12/1)
       Heptachlor (WHO Pesticide Residues Series 4)
       Heptachlor (WHO Pesticide Residues Series 5)
       Heptachlor (Pesticide residues in food: 1991 evaluations Part II Toxicology)
       Heptachlor (CICADS 70, 2006)