The Environmental Protection Agency's new rules on human testing, which the agency said last week would categorically protect children and pregnant women from pesticide testing, include numerous exemptions, such as one that specifically allows testing of children who have been "abused and neglected."
[...]
But within the 30 pages of rules are clear-cut exceptions that permit:

Testing of "abused or neglected" children without permission from parents or guardians.

"Ethically deficient" human research if it is considered crucial to "protect public health."

More than minimal health risk to a subject if there is a "direct benefit" to the child being tested, and the parents or guardians agree.

EPA acceptance of overseas industry studies, which often are performed in countries that have minimal or no ethical standards for testing, as long as the tests are not done directly for the EPA.

[Rick] Wilking told Gelf magazine today that he has not yet heard from the president—whom he says he knows very well—about the note. “I’m curious to know what the White House thinks,” Wilking said.

President Bush has now put us on notice, the Gulf Coast reconstruction effort is going to be run as a patronage and political operation.

"I'm a redneck," he said. "But no, I'm not racist."