Claim: An EPA study proposed paying families to allow their children to be exposed to pesticides.
Status: Multiple:
- The EPA planned to deliberately expose youngsters to pesticides in order to study what effects those chemical compounds may have on children: False.
- The EPA planned to study children who live in an area where pesticides are used year-round: True.
- The proposed study was canceled in April 2005: True.
Example: [Collected via e-mail, 2004]
EPA Will Use Poor Kids as Guinea Pigs to Test Toxic Chemicals Dear friend, The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced plans to launch an outrageous new study in which participating low income families will have their children exposed to toxic pesticides over the course of two years. For taking part in these studies, each family will receive $970, a free video camera, a Please take a moment to follow this link and join tens of thousands of citizens in petitioning the EPA to terminate this study prior to its proposed launch in early 2005. More information, related newspaper headlines and petition here: https://www.organicconsumers.org/epa-alert.htm Please also forward this message. |
Origins: Yet again an interesting mix of truth and scare has been loosed upon us all. While the November 2004
conclusions.
Through a research project known as the Children's Environmental Exposure Research Study (CHEERS), the United States' Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) planned to gather data about pesticide and household chemical exposure in very young children. The study was set to begin in the summer of 2005 in Jacksonville, Florida, and would have entailed monitoring
However, while the
The EPA would not have been administering pesticides to children. Children who were already exposed to pesticides due to where they lived would have been studied by the EPA.
Given that these youngsters were coming into contact with noxious chemicals because of where they lived, the EPA saw a good opportunity to examine the effects of such compounds on small children by studying subjects drawn from this particular group. CHEERS would have tracked
Update: On 8 April 2005, the proposed study was canceled. As to why,
I have concluded that the study cannot go forward, regardless of the outcome of the independent review. EPA must conduct quality, credible research in an atmosphere absent of gross misrepresentation and controversy.
Last fall, in light of questions about the study design, I directed that all work on the study stop immediately and requested an independent review. Since that time, many misrepresentations about the study have been made. EPA senior scientists have briefed me on the impact these misrepresentations have had on the ability to proceed with the study.
Additional information:
Overview of Children's Environmental Exposure Research Study (EPA)
Last updated: 31 August 2005
Sources: