I realize that as time goes on the Bush administration is looking more and more like a secret attempt to discredit the Republican Party, but even they wouldn't come out with a scheme to do pesticide testing on orphans and mentally handicapped children. Right?

So, I am absolutely positive that there must be a convenient explanation for this proposed EPA rule:

"The IRB (Independent Review Board) shall determine that adequate provisions are made for soliciting the assent of the children, when in the judgment of the IRB the children are capable of providing assent...If the IRB determines that the capability of some or all of the children is so limited that they cannot reasonably be consulted, the assent of the children is not a necessary condition for proceeding with the research. Even where the IRB determines that the subjects are capable of assenting, the IRB may still waive the assent requirement..."

More details and what you can do here. Now, obviously, I don't usually link to such sites.

But, on the other hand, I see that Snopes has raised issues with a previous alert from the same organization. And, since I have recent experience with Snopes obscuring what could be a major scandal I'm not going to trust what they wrote. And, frankly, I don't trust the Bush administration not to try something like this.

I don't know who's right, but, unless you don't want them to know that you know, sending a letter to the EPA opposing this seems like the best bet.