Loopholes Allow for "Ethically Deficient" Pesticide Testing
Reporting by Roddy Scheer


Environmentalists are accusing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of buckling to industry pressure to relax standards governing the testing of human health responses to pesticide exposure. The agency's new rules--advertised to "categorically" protect children and pregnant women from pesticide testing--reportedly allow for several troubling exceptions, including sanctioning the use of "abused and neglected" kids as test subjects and allowing for "ethically deficient" human research if it is considered crucial to "protect public health."