Remember when Vice President Gore exploited his sister's death from lung cancer at the Democratic National Convention last August? The Vice President took that opportunity to blame the tobacco industry (and Bob Dole?) for his sister's death. Of course he forgot to mention he grew tobacco, boasted about it and even accepted political contributions from tobacco companies after his sister's death.
In this same (shamelessly) exploitive vein, the President and Vice President have set their sights on children's environmental health and safety issues.
Citing "a growing body of scientific knowledge [that] demonstrates that children may suffer disproportionately from environmental health risks and safety risks," President Clinton signed, and Vice President Gore announced, an Executive order that (1) prioritizes identification and assessment of environmental health and safety risks that disproportionately affect children and (2) ensures that federal standards and policy address disproportionate risks to children. (An Executive order is an official statement of Executive Branch policy. It is not equivalent to law, but can have the same practical effect.)
The apparent justification for this Executive order is the National Research Council's 1993 report titled Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children.
Ironically, the NRC report did not identify any actual health effects among infants and children from pesticides in the diet. This was expressly acknowledged by Dr. Philip Landrigan, chairman of the NRC committee producing the report.
So what is this "growing body of scientific knowledge?" Well, there isn't any. There is no science that shows children are experiencing "disproportionate" health effects from the environment. (Although the same can't be said for safety. Remember that federally-mandated air bags were blamed for a number of kids' deaths.)
As a matter of fact, the Junkman challenges anyone to produce any or all of this "growing body of scientific knowledge." Think you have a study that supports this Executive order? Mail or fax it to me and I'll post my analysis of it along with your rebuttal.
Child labor laws protect children from exploitation by slimy employers. Do we need similar laws for politicians?
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