A 2004 article entitled "Study of Pesticides and Children Stirs Protest" describes a proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study to see how small children absorb pesticides and other household chemicals. The EPA would pay each family "$970, some children's clothing and a camcorder"29 in exchange for their participation for two years, during which they would use various household chemicals and have their children tested for absorption rates. [Note: In 2005 it was decided not to carry out the study.]
a. Would this be an observational study or an experiment?
b. Which of these would be most worrisome here: treatments that are unethical to impose, people's behaviors affected by their awareness of participating in a prospective study, or people's faulty memories in a retrospective study?