Frank Lautenberg: “I am pleased to join Senator Boxer in offering an amendment which will ensure that we protect infants, children…”

“I am pleased to join Senator Boxer in offering an amendment which will ensure that we protect infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and other groups from the threats posed by contaminants in water. I appreciate the work of my good friend from California in taking the initiative on this important issue. Scientific evidence is developing showing that certain groups in our society like infants and children are at greater risk from environmental contaminants than the average adult. Two recent National Academy of Sciences' reports conclude that children are at greater environmental risk from environmental contaminants. In its 1993 report, ``Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children,'' the NAS concluded that there are ``both quantitative and occasionally qualitative differences in toxicity of pesticides between children and adults.'' Since the exposure to many pesticides was substantially different for children than adults, the NAS recommended that the EPA consider these differences in regulating pesticides.”