CHEERS: the EPA wants low income kids for their study of pesticide use

Update: That was a quick response. EPA is temporarily suspending the study to gather more feedback. Note: this study doesn't ask parents to expose their kids to more pesticides. But apparently, the study area, FL, has a high level of pesticide exposure. I don't know why or how.
CHEERS: still another of those Orwellian acronyms. This must be a cottage industry for laid-off adwriters somewhere in our beleaguered land.

Organic Consumers Action has an alert and a petition for you to sign.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), led by Bush appointees, plans to launch a new study in which participating low income families will have their children exposed to toxic pesticides over the course of two years. The study entitled CHEERS (Children’s Environmental Exposure Research Study) will look at how chemicals can be ingested, inhaled or absorbed by children ranging from babies to 3 years old.

For taking part in these studies, each family will receive $970, a free video camera, a T-shirt, and a framed certificate of appreciation.

In October, the EPA received $2 million to do the study from the American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry front group that includes members such as Dow, Exxon, and Monsanto (see full list of members on sidebar of this page). Critics of the research claim the study's funders guarantee the results will be biased in favor of the chemical industry, at the expense of the health of the impoverished children serving as test subjects.

Here's the worst quote ever:

The EPA's Linda Sheldon says the study is vital, because so little is known about how small children's bodies absorb harmful chemicals.

This is not a joke; you can check out the EPA site for yourself.