A MANDATE TO POISON BABIES?

Nurse Rached is giving me nightmares, this has probably been postponed to give George Bush time to ram "tort reform" through.

You've heard that we bought America from the Indians for a few beads and trinkets? Well, the American Chemistry Council bought the EPA to rent 60 babies for $970.00, a camcorder and some trinkets.

EPA is paying families in Jacksonville, Florida (Duval County) who “spray or have pesticides sprayed inside your home routinely” to study the resulting chemical exposure in their infant children. The study, called the Children’s Environmental Exposure Research Study or CHEERS, pays participating families $970 for participating throughout the entire two-year study period. Families who complete the study also get to keep the camcorder they are provided to record their babies’ behavior. In addition, families are given bibs, t-shirts and other promotional items. The families are recruited from public clinics and hospitals. EPA selects infants based upon pesticide residue levels detected in “a surface wipe sample in the primary room where the child spends time.”

“EPA seems to think that the problem with this study is one of public relations, not morality,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, whose organization is working with agency scientists who are questioning the ethics of the study. “Regardless of the number of reviews, paying poor parents to dose their babies with commercial poisons to measure their exposure is just plain wrong.”

According to published reports, the Bush Administration will soon announce their repeal of the Clinton-era rules against testing pesticides on humans. EPA wants to use CHEERS as the opening for a new policy on accepting testing on humans to determine pesticide toxicity.

[Is this more of that "culture of life"?]

“EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt is claiming an election mandate for the administration’s environmental policies, but I don’t remember President Bush campaigning for human experimentation on toddlers,” Ruch added.

Susan let's us know exactly how honest that research will be.