EPA exploitation exposed

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., made Stephen L. Johnson a political pawn because the Environmental Protection Agency made 60 Florida children scientific pawns.

Sen. Nelson and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., blocked Mr. Johnson's nomination to be EPA administrator because they objected to an experiment, begun last year, that paid families in Duval County to let the EPA study how their children absorbed pesticides and household chemicals.

Mr. Johnson's credentials aren't an issue. He's a longtime EPA employee, acting administrator and the first scientist nominated to head the agency. Environmental groups have said they hope Mr. Johnson's nomination is a sign that the White House will put less pressure on the EPA to make its scientific findings match anti-government ideology.

Mr. Johnson, who previously led the EPA division that studies pesticides, at first defended the Duval study -- known officially as the Children's Environmental Exposure Research Study -- which yields the ridiculously inappropriate acronym CHEERS. But CHEERS is hard to defend. The American Chemical Council, which has a vested interest in finding that chemicals cause no harm, contributed $2 million to the study, compromising its integrity.

Worse, CHEERS fails several ethics tests. EPA recruited subjects by offering $970, children's clothing and a free camcorder. Those incentives not only target but exploit a disproportionate number of low-income families, leaving the impression that the government doesn't mind exposing poor children to toxic chemicals. And because there is no possible benefit to exposing children to pesticides, any study that allows the exposure -- rather than helping to prevent it -- is unethical, if not immoral.

Sens. Nelson and Boxer released their hold after Mr. Johnson promised to cancel the Duval study, after which the Environment and Public Works Committee moved his nomination to the full Senate. But Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., has blocked a floor vote because the EPA won't provide information that would enable the public to compare President Bush's misnamed "Clear Skies" initiative to more environment-friendly proposals.

That attempt to conceal "Clear Skies" flaws doesn't bode well for hopes the EPA will be less political. Once Mr. Johnson is confirmed, he will have to show unexpected independence to keep the Bush administration from treating Americans as guinea pigs for polluting industries.