Law and Order episode to deal with the intentional dosing of children with experimental pesticides.

On Tuesday, February 6th, NBC aired "Loophole," an episode on the crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit an exceptional episode that focuses on the controversial EPA rule allowing intentional dosing of people with pesticides.

Martha Dina Arguello of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles, and chair of the steering committee of Californians for Pesticide Reform, and Margaret Reeves (and other staff scientists from Pesticide Action Network - North America) consulted with Law and Order: SVU executive producer Neal Baer and writer Jonathan Greene. I encourage you to watch the show, organize view parties. This episode is a great combination of education and entertainment. In the episode, a fictional chemical company tests several children and their families with a dangerous organophosphate pesticide (a class of acutely toxic chemicals). In real life, EPA's human testing rule contains loopholes that allow chemical corporations to test pesticides on women and children. A 2005 Congressional report written by Senator Barbara Boxer's and Congress member Henry Waxman's staff revealed human testing studies where pesticide corporations told their subjects they were ingesting vitamins or drugs. No study of the well-documented long-term effects of pesticide exposures were conducted in follow-up of those test subjects. "Loophole" reminds the public of EPA's all too real life "CHEERS" program, where the federal government proposed in 2004 to offer low-income families in Florida $970, a camcorder, and some clothes if they would record  "routine exposur e" of their infants to household pesticides. The script is careful to point out the opposition of EPA staff scientists to the human testing rule made by EPA political appointees. Dr. Margaret Reeves, senior scientist at Pesticide Action Network - North America was very pleased with the scientific accuracy of the show "Even though they created a fictional pesticide for the episode, it very much demonstrated the harmful health effects we see with organophosphate pesticides." Reeves heads up a campaign to ban organophosphates. PANNA has partnered with EarthJustice and the Natural Resource Defense Council to sue EPA over the human testing rule. The Law and Order: SVU episode highlights many regulatory problems concerning pesticides, and the difficulty of linking exposure with specific health outcomes. The show further reveals the many environmental health threats faced by low-income children in their own homes.  Law and O rder: SVU is doing a great public service by raising awareness about how low income communities are more vulnerable to environmental injustice. On February 6th please watch the show.  We really encourage you to organize viewing parties in your community.   Tell your friends and family to watch the show.  Let NBC  know how important it is to do more socially responsible television.  

Pesticide resources

http://www.psrla.org
http://www.panna.org/
http://www.calisafe.org/
http://www.pesticidereform.org/