E.P.A. Scraps Controversial Pesticide Testing Program
By REUTERS
Filed at 5:23 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush's choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday canceled a controversial program to test the effects of bug spray and other pesticides on infants after two Senate Democrats threatened to block his confirmation.
Sens. Barbara Boxer of California and Bill Nelson of Florida said they would place a ``hold'' on the White House's nomination of acting EPA administrator Stephen Johnson unless he canceled the $9 million program.
The Children's Environmental Exposure Research Study would have paid families $970 to videotape how spraying insecticides in their homes affected infants over two years.
``I am very pleased that Mr. Johnson has recognized the gross error in judgment the EPA made when they concocted this immoral program to test pesticides on children,'' Boxer said in a statement.
``EPA came to its senses,'' Nelson said, after Johnson told him that the program targeting poor minority families in Florida was ``dead.''
Boxer and Nelson will lift their holds, their staff said.
Ok, someone was going to have to do something about this, so now it's done. Who's idea was this in the first place?
-The Oklahoma Hippy
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