EPA MULLS RULES FOR RISKS TO KIDS.Byline: Staff and Wire Services WASHINGTON - The government proposed tougher guidelines Monday for evaluating cancer risks to children on grounds the very young could be 10 times more vulnerable than adults to certain chemicals. The guidelines, when made final after a review by the Environmental Protection Agency's science advisory board, would dramatically alter agency policy, which assumes cancer risks to a fetus or an infant are no greater than for a similarly exposed adult. For the time being, the increased scrutiny would be limited to assessing a group of chemicals that damage a person's genes by causing them to mutate mu·tate intr. & tr.v. mu·tat·ed, mu·tat·ing, mu·tates To undergo or cause to undergo mutation. [Latin m so that cancer can form more easily later in life. Among these are some pesticides as well as a number of chemicals released in combustion or used in the making of plastics. The agency said that as more information is developed, other cancer- causing pollutants pollutants see environmental pollution. , not those that cause gene mutations, might also be brought under the new guidelines if they are found to pose heightened risk to children. California already sets some of the tightest controls in the country on air, water and food contaminants Food contamination refers to the presence in food of harmful chemicals and microorganisms which can cause consumer illness. This article addresses the chemical contamination of foods, as opposed to microbiological contamination, which can be found under Foodborne illness. . State regulators have already begun setting air pollution standards based on children's exposure and risk. Based on legislation passed in 1999, the California Air Resources Board California Air Resources Board (CARB) is the "clean air agency" of the state of California in the United States. Established originally in 1967, it is a part of the California Environmental Protection Agency, an organization which reports directly to the California has recommended more strict soot standards and will soon evaluate smog standards specifically aimed at protecting infants and children. ``We're revising standards to where they should be, as far as children's health Children's Health Definition Children's health encompasses the physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being of children from infancy through adolescence. is concerned,'' said ARB spokesman Richard Varenchik. California pesticide regulators were unsure Monday how the EPA's proposal would affect use of chemicals for pest control pest control n → control m de plagas pest control n → lutte f contre les nuisibles pest control pest n . How to assess cancer risk to the very young from environmental pollution is an issue that has vexed the EPA EPA eicosapentaenoic acid. EPA abbr. eicosapentaenoic acid EPA, n.pr See acid, eicosapentaenoic. EPA, n. for years. This would be the first time the EPA has proposed formally taking into account the differences between exposure to an adult and a baby or toddler in assessing cancer risks. The final guidelines are to be reviewed by the EPA science advisory board in May, with a final document to be issued by summer, said Bill Farland, the EPA's acting deputy assistant administrator for science. The proposed guidelines on risks to children are part of a broader effort by the agency to overhaul the way it evaluates scientific evidence to determine whether to regulate a chemical as a carcinogen carcinogen: see cancer. carcinogen Agent that can cause cancer. Exposure to one or more carcinogens, including certain chemicals, radiation, and certain viruses, can initiate cancer under conditions not completely understood. . |
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