Washington

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is under fire from a watchdog group for accepting US$2 million from a chemical-industry lobby organization to study the effects of pesticides and household chemicals on children.

The Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based non-profit body, says the funding represents a clear conflict of interest for the EPA. “The concern is that the regulated industry, which makes the products being tested, is buying access to the study's design, data and findings,” says Jane Houlihan, the group's vice-president for research.

But Paul Gilman, assistant administrator for research and development at the EPA, says the money comes with “no strings attached”. He adds that the cash-strapped agency would be unable to do the research without the money. “Is ignorance better?” he asks.

The dispute concerns the Children's Environmental Exposure Research Study, a three-year investigation that was originally designed to look at children's contact with commercial pesticides. When EPA scientists wanted to expand this to include chemicals commonly found around the home, they approached the American Chemistry Council (ACC), an industry lobby group representing 135 chemical manufacturers, according to Carol Henry, the council's vice-president for research.

Henry says that the ACC agreed to give an additional $2 million to include chemicals found in everything from furniture coatings to cosmetics.

The ACC was willing to fund the study because it believes it will ultimately lead to sounder regulations, says Henry. “If you don't know how chemicals get to various individuals, you have to make a lot of assumptions under the regulatory procedures,” she says.

Gilman adds that although the industry group will have a right to review the study 45 days before publication, it will have no influence on the research findings. “We're being very open and public about this process,” he says.

But Houlihan remains concerned. “The EPA's research budget is over $500 million a year, so you have to ask why the agency is relying on the lobbying arm of its own regulated industries for such a small sum of money in a study that could be critical to children's health protection,” she says.