Trivia

CHEERS is an acronym for Children's Environmental Exposure Research Study, which was a study that was conducted by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the United States government during the summer of 2004. The study was designed to determine how children were exposed to pesticides, specifically organophosphates, and other chemicals during everyday life and the effects it had on them. The study was conducted in Duval County, Florida, an area that had seen heavy pesticide use in the years prior to 2004. The study was supposed to last two years and involved researchers following 60 children whose parents regularly used pesticides on farms and ranches, they would take blood and urine samples from the children every six months; in return the parents were offered compensation in amounts up to $970. The program was heavily criticized because many people (including doctors and scientists from the AMA, CDC, EPA and the Surgeon General's office) thought it would encourage people to intentionally expose children to organophosphates and other chemicals in order to be paid, it was thought the EPA specifically chose Duval County because it was one of the poorest counties in the US and that it would encourage desperate parents to intentionally harm their kids for money. After nation wide outrage and protests accusing the US government of exploiting a loophole forbidding it from performing human testing and exploiting poor, desperate people in order to turn a profit the study was terminated in April of 2005 and EPA director Stephen Johnson was fired for his role in it. See more