Senate acts to block pesticide tests on humans
by LaVonne on 01/07/05 at 11:20 pm
EPA has been drafting rule that would allow such tests for permits
WASHINGTON – The Senate voted to block the Environmental Protection Agency from using studies that intentionally expose people to pesticides when considering permits for pest killers.
By a 60-37 vote, the Senate approved a provision from Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., that would block the EPA from relying on such testing — including 24 human pesticide experiments currently under review — as it approves or denies pesticide applications.
The Bush administration lifted a partial moratorium imposed in 1998 by the Clinton administration on using human testing for pesticide approvals. Under the change, political appointees are refereeing on a case-by-case basis any ethical disputes over human testing.
The tests include a 2002-04 study by the University of California-San Diego in which chloropicrin, a fungicide that was used as a chemical warfare agent during World War I, was administered to 127 young adults in doses that Boxer said exceeded average federal safety limits.
New EPA rules under development envision permitting the agency to accept data from human tests on children, pregnant women, newborns, infants and fetuses. Even newborns of “uncertain viability” could be tested under the draft EPA rule.
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