U.S. PIRG Consumer Blog: Students Used As Guinea Pigs For Pesticide Research

Yesterday the Senate passed a PIRG-backed amendment by Barbara Boxer (D-CA) to place a moratorium on human pesticide experiments. Read a release by PIRG Environmental Health Advocate Meghan Purvis. Unfortunately, the Senate also went forward with a possibly conflicting Burns (R-MT) proposal urging EPA to complete a rule regulating (and allowing) human experiments.

The pesticide manufacturers, now known benignly as "Croplife America," are behind the efforts to unnecessarily test chemicals on humans.

According to the PIRG release:

"In December 2004, 127 students at the University of San Diego took part in a study where they were exposed to chloropicrin, a highly hazardous insecticide which is also an active ingredient in tear gas.

One group of students in this study were placed in a "chamber" for up to one hour on four consecutive days with the vaporized toxic chemical. Another group had this chemical released directly into their nostrils and eyes."