In the world of Washington, D.C., nothing is less surprising than a leak. Congress, the White House and federal agencies all leak scraps of information. Reporters and lobbyists wheel after them like hungry seagulls.
Many leaks are of little consequence.
The internal EPA memo described how protecting children under a new law, the Food Quality Protection Act, might mean ending or cutting the use of potent pesticides called organophosphates. Among them was Guthion, the bug-killer that growers use most often on Northwest apples. The leak, as leaks are supposed to do, became the lever for change. Pesticide companies and agricultural groups knew how to wield it. And she had done it in a Republican Congress known for its anti-environmental legislation.