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...health effects. In recent years, its provisions have been strengthened, and pesticides introduced now do have to undergo thorough testing. A process of re-registration, carrying out and verifying new tests for chemicals approved under old standards, was also loosely mandated by the newer provisions of FIFRA, but the EPA has been slow to tackle this task. In 1972, Congress directed the agency to complete the re-registration process by 1976, but EPA then obtained extensions to 1977, 1978, and finally the removal of any set deadline. By the middle of last year, the EPA had a complete and comprehensive...
Ruckelshaus' move appeared dramatic, but, in fact, the action was long overdue. Scientists have long believed that the chemical, used primarily as a fumigant after the grain has been harvested, causes cancer and birth defects in laboratory animals, even in minute quantities. Industry spokesmen and EPA officials have often argued that there is no firm evidence linking the chemical to cancer in humans, but longterm studies have shown EDB to be carcinogenic in rats and mice. For the time being, consumers everywhere are the unwitting guinea pigs who will demonstrate the pesticide's effect on human health...
...EPA first began to look closely at the chemical in 1977, and by 1980 had proposed to cancel all food-related use (EDB is also added to gasoline to prevent lead deposits in engines). But then came the change in administrations and, with strong chemical industry lobbying against any restrictions, no action was taken under now-infamous EPA administrator Anne Burford Last September, Ruckelshaus cancelled use of EDB as a soil fumigant, but only after significant amounts of residues of the chemical showed up in the ground water in several states. The current order extends...
...despite the headlines, Ruckelshaus' restrictions on EDB use have done relatively little to counter the still more widespread threat which the use and overuse of pesticides in America poses. When he presented the recent order, the EPA administrator reassured the press that the country is not facing a "public health emergency:" yet such a crisis may be just around the corner. EDB is only one of scores of pesticides in use across the country that are suspected of threatening human health, and are showing up in food and water supplies in many states...
...food supply have surfaced recently, since far-reaching and badly needed amendments to FIFRA are now before both houses of Congress. These amendments would prohibit the application of pesticides which are still not fully tested for their threat to human health. This would bring a halt to the present EPA practice of allowing untested chemicals to be used while the studies are being carried out. In addition, the amendments would stop the granting of special "emergency use" permits for the use of pesticides which are known to be deadly--a practice which has skyrocketed during the Reagan Administration...