WASHINGTON -- Despite highly publicized promises in 1993, the Clinton administration has failed to curb pesticide use, according to a report issued by the Environmental Working Group, an environmental organization that focuses on agriculture.

"The track record of the Clinton-Gore administration on pesticides falls far, far short of the dramatic commitments that the administration announced with incredible fanfare five years ago," Ken Cook wrote in the foreword of his report "Same As It Ever Was."

In fact, Cook singled out Gore as the main cause of the failure of the administration's plan to cut pesticide use. "The pesticide lobby ... knew perfectly well the trouble organophosphate pesticides were in at EPA, by force of the chemicals' toxicity and children's exposure," he wrote, "they just didn't like what they knew about the direction of EPA's decision making. So they banged on Mr. Gore's door."

That meeting with pesticide companies and farm groups took place on April 8, according to Cook.

And it resulted in an "odd directive" to EPA Administrator Carol Browner and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, instructing them to "obey federal law, perform their duties intelligently and diligently, hold tons of public meetings and work together well."

Iowa ranked No. 1 in the nation in the use of cancer causing pesticides -- nearly 25 million pounds, according to a complicated formula based on the 1992 farm census.

The National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy said the 1992 data are the most recent and best available.

The American Crop Protection Association (ACPA) blasted Cook's report as "scary soundbite science" based on inaccurate data.

The former Fertilizer Institute said the report is wrong in its two major points: that pesticide use has gone up, and the EPA has failed to protect children from pesticide exposure.

The ACPA points out a 1997 EPA report that shows pesticide use is down after topping off in 1979.

However, the same EPA report notes an 11 percent jump in pesticide use "due to more acreage grown for important pesticide-using crops (principally corn and soybeans and due to impacts of floods/unseasonable weather during the 1993-94 period in Midwest and western states... The flooding in 1993 accelerated weed infestation problems in 1994, resulting in more herbicide use."