Abstract
THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROtection Agency has announced a moratorium on considering human test results for purposes of assessing pesticide safety. Earlier this year, the Bush Administration decided to consider the results of trials in which human volunteers are fed pesticides to identify or quantify any adverse effects. This was a reversal of the Clinton Administration's policy. EPA was given the results from tests of the pesticides azinphos methyl, chlorpyrifos, and phosmet in which human volunteers were given pesticide doses hundreds of times higher than levels considered safe for the general population. If such data are available, EPA does not have to impose the 10-fold safety factor required under the Food Quality & Protection Act when extrapolating from animal data to human exposure. Now, EPA has asked the National Academy of Sciences to review the complex scientific and ethical issues surrounding the use of human studies conducted by outside parties, such as pesticide makers.The results of the ...
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