Pesticide Industry Plotted Bush Human Testing Policy; Meeting with OMB Staff Laid Out Exemptions for Experiments on Children

One month before the Bush administration proposed rules authorizing experiments on humans with pesticides and other chemicals, its key operatives met with pesticide industry lobbyists to map out its provisions, according to meeting notes posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The industry requests for exemptions allowing some chemical testing on children and other provisions were incorporated into the human testing rule ultimately adopted this January 26th.

At the August 9, 2005 meeting held inside the President’s Office of Management and Budget, representatives of the pesticide trade association, Crop Life America, as well as Bayer Crop Life Science met with OMB and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials. Also attending was a former top EPA official, James Aidala, who now acts a lobbyist at a law firm representing chemical companies.

Earlier post on the EPA rule that outlines the provisions for testing on children and pregnant women.

The EPA's Final Rule: 40 CFR Parts 9 and 26 Protections for Subjects in Human Research; Final Rule