Banned pesticide allowed as medicine: U.S. bars lindane, except to treat lice.

From: Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD) | Date: August 14, 2006 | Copyright information

Byline: Andrew Schneider

Aug. 14--After more than a half century of use and thousands of reports of illness and deaths blamed on the pesticide, the federal government has banned all uses of lindane -- except by those who rub it on their scalps and bodies to kill lice and mites. This month, the Environmental Protection Agency banned all uses of lindane as a pesticide, but the Food and Drug Administration has decided to allow its continued use in medicines. Many pu...

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