What better way to find out if something is harmful to humans than to expose them to it? Unethical, you say? The U.S. National Academy of Sciences disagrees. According to a recent statement, human testing of pesticides and pollutants is a-okay by them. Under the Clinton White House, the Environmental Protection Agency wouldn't consider such practices, but the milkmen of human kindness in the Bush administration opened the door - much to the pesticide industry's delight. With the nod of approval from the highly influential NAS, environmentalists and toxin-makers alike expect the EPA to approve human testing within a few months.

Currently, human safety levels are estimated as one-thousandth of the dose that proves harmful to animals. Pesticide manufacturers insist the greatest of apes can endure much more toxins in their air and water. As for the issue of the health risks to human volunteers, the NAS feel the long-term benefits to society outweigh individual risks.

» Scott Saxon