WP: New Rules Govern Use of Data From Testing Pesticides on People

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/26/AR2006012601853.html

The Bush administration issued yesterday the first-ever federal rules governing the use of information collected in tests that expose human subjects to toxic pesticides.

The new regulations -- which drew praise from pesticide manufacturers and criticism from environmentalists and congressional Democrats -- would prohibit the intentional dosing of pregnant women and children with such poisons, and would establish an independent board to screen proposed studies.

"This rule provides far-reaching protections for all Americans and bans pesticide testing on pregnant women and children," said Susan B. Hazen, acting assistant administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances.

Officials have been struggling for close to a decade with how best to deal with data from tests that deliberately expose people to toxic chemicals.

Until President Clinton imposed a moratorium in 1998, federal officials allowed manufacturers to conduct pesticide experiments on human beings on the grounds that such tests provided a clearer picture than animal experiments could of how pesticides might affect the environment and public health.

Do people actually sign up for this kind of stuff or is it done without their knowledge?

....President Bush initially backed the moratorium, but his administration abandoned it in 2003 after a court ruling in favor of pesticide makers. The firms had argued that the government had not fully involved the public before banning the use of the information.

Erik D. Olson, a senior attorney at the advocacy group Natural Resources Defense Council, said the new rules may lead to more pesticide testing on people because they will allow manufacturers to conduct "observational tests" that monitor individuals' everyday exposure to toxic chemicals.

"We're going to have weaker public health protections, more pesticides on people's foods, and a huge increase in the number of unethical and unscientific studies using human beings as guinea pigs," Olson said.