The EPA --led by Bush Appointees--Will use Poor Kids as Guinea Pigs

[Kellis]

This is one of the sickest thing I have ever heard in my life!Please click the link below and sign the petition to stop this study.


EPA WILL USE POOR KIDS AS GUINEA PIGS
IN NEW STUDY ON PESTICIDES

Study Launch Date Suspended Until Early 2005
Offers Public Comment Period

Sign Petition to Stop Pesticide Study on Kids!

11/12/2004: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), led by Bush appointees, plans to launch a new study in which participating low income families will have their children exposed to toxic pesticides over the course of two years. The study entitled CHEERS (Children’s Environmental Exposure Research Study) will look at how chemicals can be ingested, inhaled or absorbed by children ranging from babies to 3 years old.

For taking part in these studies, each family will receive $970, a free video camera, a T-shirt, and a framed certificate of appreciation.

In October, the EPA received $2 million to do the study from the American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry front group that includes members such as Dow, Exxon, and Monsanto (see full list of members on sidebar of this page). Critics of the research claim the study's funders guarantee the results will be biased in favor of the chemical industry, at the expense of the health of the impoverished children serving as test subjects.

Participants for the study were chosen from 6 health clinics and three hospitals in Jacksonville, FL. These medical facilities report that 51% of their births are to non-white mothers and 62% of mothers have only received an elementary or secondary education.

The EPA's Linda Sheldon says the study is vital, because so little is known about how small children's bodies absorb harmful chemicals.

Important Note on Participants of Study: The study layout does not require that participants increase their chemical use, but does mandate that chosen applicants will need to demonstrate that they do regularly use toxic chemicals in and around the home. The concern here is that low income applicants may increase their toxic chemical use for the sake of applying and being eligible for the funding.

Important Note on Suspension of the Study: On November 11th, the EPA announced suspension of the study's launch until early 2005 for the sake of "final review." The Organic Consumers Association is taking this opportunity to call on the nation's citizens to demand the EPA permanently terminate this abuse of low income children by the chemical industry


http://www.organicconsumers.org/epa-alert.htm

[havocmom]

1. Thought I saw news banner last evening that the plan was cancelled

:shrug:

[KoKo]

2. This is not true and the researcher who was trying to save kids lives got

her work cancelled because of this hysteria put out by the Bush Administration. There's already a thread on this on DU...

[KoKo]

3. Here is a reply to what you posted. NOT TRUE.....

This is Not TRUE! Please read carefully! They are NOT testing the
Edited on Sat Nov-13-04 12:58 AM by KoKo01


products on kids but their exposure, already. I can't understand what's going on with this story except some Repugs are trying to discredit the work so that they will stop the report on the Pesticides harming our kids. Someone in the Bush administration is using this to discredit these people by getting everyone to think they are testing things on kids. I have some knowledge of "CHEERS."

This is a study to show the amount of pesticides absorbed by kids whose parents or landlords spray their houses for pests. The families signed up for the program to have their kids monitored and the study is not TESTING CHEMICALS ON THE KIDS...but TESTING WHAT HARMFUL EXPOSURE THEY ALREADY HAVE!

The people running this have kids and were on with Bill Moyers, FGS! They are trying to get information to show that little kids are absorbing too much from pesticides used in the home.

The only think we can figure is that the Bushies have some how decided that if this exposure is shown to be bad the Chemcial Companies will lose money. The study got cut from a portion of funding by Govt. after Bill Moyers discussed the threat of chemicals on our bodies and they had to take some portion of funding from some of the chemical companies, but somebody must have decided in the Bush administration or the Chemical Companies themselves that this was a bad thing....and they put this disinformation out to try to smear these people.

I've been on here a long time. If I question this, it's because I know something about it...I won't use any pesticides or chemicals in my house if I can avoid it. I use cloves for ant problems, biodegradable soaps and vinegar and baking soda for clean ups. I won't even use any ingredient with DEET in it for mosquitos!

I checked on the group PEER that started this and they are a group of government employees to try to to good work in their departments. But, what if the group has changed since the Bushies came in and they've co-opted what was a good intentioned group trying to direct Government Agency policy by being a watch dog. You know "Clear Skies"
etc.. It's possible "PEER" has been hijacked with Bush Appointees like everything else.

Bill Moyers would not have interviewed these people trying to help them expose how many chemicals we are exposed to if he thought they were using children like the nazi's did...

[Moderator]

4. Locking

First, there is an ongoing discussion here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1350309#1350329

Second, the story has been refuted.