You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Democrats Move to Stall EPA & FDA Nominations

HeadlineApr 07, 2005

On Capitol Hill, Democratic Senators have temporarily blocked the confirmation of President Bush’s nominees to head the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration. EPA nominee Stephen Johnson came under intense criticism by Senator Barbara Boxer for his role in a controversial pesticide testing experiment in Florida. Under that program federal researchers offered low-income parents in Duval County nearly $1,000 to allow scientists to measure the effects of pesticides on children under the age of one year. Boxer called the program unethical and immoral. She said “it’s environmental injustice where children are the victims.” Hearings were also held Wednesday for Lester Crawford who has been nominated to head the Food and Drug Administration. Democratic Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Patty Murray of Washington vowed to hold up his nomination until the FDA allowed the morning-after-pill be sold. Last year an expert panel of scientists recommended the emergency contraceptive known as Plan B be sold but the FDA has yet to issue a final ruling.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top