The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in a recent guidance document, declared that applying pesticides directly in or above U.S. waters with the purpose of controlling insects does not require a pollutant discharge permit under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

Highway fatalities, boosted by a rise in the number of rollover crashes, increased by 1.5 percent in 2002, reaching the highest level since 1990, according to data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Rollover crashes -- which increased by 5 percent, from 10,157 in 2001 to 10,666 in 2002 -- accounted for 82 percent of the total fatality increase. The number of persons killed in sport utility vehicles (SUVs) that rolled over increased as well – by 14 percent.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced its intent to relax restrictions on food manufacturers for making claims about the health benefits of products. FDA will allow companies to petition the agency for review of claims about the healthfulness of their products based on preliminary scientific information—a departure from its current practice of approving only those claims supported by conclusive scientific evidence.

The Bush administration, through the use of waivers, has given states flexibility in administering Medicaid, but has failed to adequately oversee these programs, according to a recent report by the Government Accounting Office (GAO). The use of Medicaid waivers, which exempt states from federal regulations and potentially enable them to tailor programs to meet state-specific needs, has grown significantly over the past decade. In particular, states have increasingly sought home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers in order to provide non-institutional long-term care for the elderly.