3 U.S. Agencies Announce Joint Plans to Curb Pesticides : Health: Statement comes in advance of scientists’ report on how insect controls affect children. Farmers will be urged to use safer methods.

WASHINGTON —  The Clinton Administration on Friday moved to limit the health and environmental effects of pesticides, announcing a major effort to reduce their use and promote “sustainable agricultural practices” that rely on nature’s own forces to control pests.

The announcement comes at a time when health and environmental scientists are stepping up warnings of the dangers of pest-controlling chemicals and just four days before the National Academy of Sciences is to issue a report on the health effects of pesticides on children.

The statement, issued by three agencies responsible for food and environmental regulation, was intended to spotlight the Administration’s commitment in advance of those disclosures.

In the statement, the Administration pledged to join forces to promote the development and use of safer pesticides through incentives and educational programs. It also said that federal agencies will work with farmers to help test and apply safer pest management methods, some of which are already in use.

Administration officials said that planning has been under way for several months and will continue until new regulations, legislative proposals and educational programs are produced. One Environmental Protection Agency official said that the program likely to emerge would focus new attention on organic crop production methods already widely followed in California.

The White House “is committed to reducing the risks to people and the environment that are associated with pesticides while ensuring the availability of cost-effective pest management tools for agriculture and other pesticides users,” three agency heads said in a joint statement.

The statement was issued by Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, EPA Administrator Carol Browner and Food and Drug Administrator David A. Kessler, whose agencies often disagree on controversial pesticide issues.

“We’ve been working on this almost since day one,” Browner told The Times. “But today’s announcement is remarkable not only for its commitment to reduction but for the fact that we’re working together in a way that frankly hasn’t happened before at the federal level.”

In addition to proposing changes in pesticide regulation and enforcement, the Administration is expected to rely heavily on voluntary programs to promote safer pesticides and “biological” methods, including the use of certain predatory animals, to control unwanted pests.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) said that the Administration “is on the right track” and launched a broadside of criticism against past efforts to regulate pesticides. Waxman has proposed legislation that would overhaul the standards used in determining whether pesticides are safe.

The National Academy of Sciences report, like one issued Friday by a nonprofit watchdog group, is expected to argue that federal regulation of pesticides does not take sufficient account of the effects on children.

According to a report issued Friday by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, by the end of their first year, most American infants consume enough of eight potentially dangerous pesticides to exceed the acceptable level of lifetime exposure as defined by the EPA.

The Environmental Working Group found that many fruits and vegetables it had tested bore residues of several pesticides at once. Study director Richard Wiles said the group’s findings argue for reduction in the use of potentially dangerous pesticides.

On Friday, chemical industry groups were silent on the proposal, which one observer said was so general it could be branded “mom and apple pie.” But as more specific regulatory and legislative proposals emerge from the three-agency process, officials predicted that many would be controversial with the industry.

At the same time, however, the Administration’s proposal may win some allies among farmers. A national Gallup Poll conducted earlier this year also found substantial support among farmers for a reduction in the use of pesticides. But the farmers also strongly preferred for the government to cede to them the primary responsibility for correcting environmental problems associated with agriculture.

The Administration statement said the Environmental Working Group’s report, as well as that of the National Academy of Sciences, will be used “as a basis for formulating the legislative and regulatory policies needed to put the Administration principles into effect.”

Environmental Working Group President Ken Cook hailed the announcement as “bold and pragmatic,” adding that it represents “a major policy shift” from past government philosophy.