We the undersigned urge you to immediately cancel the EPAs proposed Children's Environmental Exposure Research Study (CHEERS) in Duval County, Florida. Incredibly, this pesticide industry-funded study would use infants and children as guinea pigs for pesticide testing. While we were glad to learn of EPAs recent decision to postpone this misguided effort, we now call upon you to permanently abandon this project.

Scientific evidence already indicates, for example, that the risk of childhood leukemia is from 9 to 11.4 times greater for children who live in homes where pesticides are applied, compared to those living where no home and garden pesticides were applied. Another study found that home use of insecticide foggers results in a 10.8 times higher risk of brain tumors in children. Yet another found that children with early persistent asthma were ten times more likely to have been exposed to herbicides and insecticides before the end of their first year.

A genuine public health approach as well as common sense tells us that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. At the very least, this means that EPA should not be dangling cash prizes, camcorders and commemorative baby bibs to persuade parents to expose their children to harmful chemicals, especially in low-income families like those targeted in the Florida plan.

We the undersigned call on EPA to:

1. Permanently cancel the CHEERS study;
2. Either return the industry-provided funding, or redirect it to pesticide exposure prevention efforts; and
3. Refocus on its duty to ensure a safe and healthy environment for children.