"Pesticides: Study: EPA Failing To Set Limits That Protect Children"

"EPA isn't fully following a federal law that requires tighter limits on potential pesticide exposure for children and infants, an environmental group said.

In a study published Monday in the journal Environmental Health, Environmental Working Group researchers said EPA has applied the strict requirement in only a handful of the risk assessments it writes for farm chemicals, falling short of requirements under the Food Quality Protection Act.

The law, enacted in 1996, requires EPA to apply a tenfold children's health safety factor in completing risk assessments for pesticides, to "ensure that there is a reasonable certainty that no harm will result to infants and children from aggregate exposure to the pesticide chemical residue."

But EPA applied the requirement in just five out of 47 risk assessments for certain types of pesticides since 2011, EWG found. That part of the study examined non-organophosphates."

Marc Heller reports for Greenwire February 12, 2020.

Source: Greenwire, 02/13/2020