Statement from Tracey J. Woodruff, PhD, Professor and Director of the UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment and the UCSF EaRTH Center, on EPA’s new regulations on PFAS in drinking water: Today’s action by EPA to reduce levels of 6 PFAS chemicals from people’s drinking water is monumental and will improve the health … Continue reading EPA announces limits to PFAS in drinking water
The following statement is from Dr. Tracey J. Woodruff, former EPA senior scientist, UCSF professor, and director of the UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment and the UCSF EaRTH Center on EPA’s new rule on EtO, ethylene oxide: “We applaud EPA for strengthening standards to reduce emissions of cancer-causing EtO (ethylene oxide). This … Continue reading We applaud EPA for new rule reducing EtO emissions
EPA recently issued Proposed Revisions to the Risk Evaluation Framework Rule, which was originally issued in 2017 and established guidelines to govern how EPA conducts risk evaluations under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The Proposed Revisions provide critical updates to the original framework rule, that we applaud, but the Revisions fall short in several … Continue reading EPA rulemaking continues to ignore real world chemical risks
PRHE’s Director, Dr. Tracey Woodruff, testified before Congress on Oct 18, 2023 at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing and Critical Materials on EPA's efforts to regulate ethylene oxide (EtO). She was one of four witnesses at the hearing; two were CEOs of the country's largest chemical companies and … Continue reading Tracey J. Woodruff testifies before Congress
Over the past four months, EPA issued proposed rulemakings under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that relied on scientific methods that fail to protect susceptible subgroups from harmful toxic chemical exposures. Using methods developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), scientists at PRHE estimated that workers and fenceline community residents — groups that are … Continue reading EPA’s recent TSCA rulemakings fail to protect workers and communities of color
Quantitative risk assessments underpin most of our federal regulations related to chemicals. Therefore, it is important to understand how and why risk assessments can go astray. Risk assessment brings together concepts of hazard (the potential for a chemical to result in an adverse health outcome, such as carcinogenicity) and exposure. Combining multiple sources of information … Continue reading How and why to close the exposure assessment gap
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is currently developing a critical update to its guidance on analysis of benefits and costs of federal regulations, known as Circular A-4. This guidance, which hasn’t been revised since it was issued in 2003, can have a major impact on the extent of public health protections in a … Continue reading OMB’s draft Circular A-4 falls short on equity
When a nail salon worker heads home after work, she’s probably carrying more than her paycheck. She is also carrying phthalates — a class of toxic chemicals that contaminates people via nail polish, cosmetics, cleaning supplies, plastics, and food. One nail salon worker is exposed to multiple chemicals from many different sources, yet regulators like … Continue reading CRAs can help EPA more accurately estimate risks from toxic chemical exposures
EPA says it must consider the perspective of multiple stakeholders when regulating, but the chemical industry can play an outsized role in Agency rulemaking. For example, when people paid by industry, through grants, contracts, or as employees, are appointed to EPA scientific advisory committees, this financial conflict of interest (financial COI) can lead to weaker … Continue reading The fox shouldn’t guard the hen house
EPA today issued a proposed rule that would further limit the deadly chemical methylene chloride, proposing to ban the use of methylene chloride for all consumer uses and most industrial uses. EPA says the banned uses account for 52% of current methylene chloride production. In response, Tracey J. Woodruff, PhD, former EPA senior scientist and … Continue reading EPA moves to further limit deadly methylene chloride
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