In the 40 years between enactment of the original Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in 1976 and its 2016 amendments, EPA regulated less than 1% of the existing chemicals on the market. EPA was even unable to ban cancer-causing chemicals like asbestos, part of the reason Congress updated TSCA to make it easier for regulators … Continue reading EPA’s failure to properly implement TSCA puts lives at risk
Six years have passed since Congress updated the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), yet EPA still does not have an appropriate method for conducting systematic reviews of chemical risks - the method by which EPA evaluates potential health harms - which is critical to protecting the public’s health. This is the clear conclusion taken from … Continue reading EPA must improve its TSCA systematic review method, scientific review says again
Whether or not you’ve heard of the chemical bisphenol A, better known as BPA, studies show that it’s almost certainly in your body. BPA is used in the manufacturing of products like plastic water bottles, baby bottles, toys and food packaging, including in the lining of cans. BPA is one of many harmful chemicals in … Continue reading Decades of research document the detrimental health effects of BPA – an expert on environmental pollution and maternal health explains what it all means
Redlining, a discriminatory practice created by the federal government in the 1930s to deny mortgages in certain neighborhoods characterized by a higher proportion of Black and immigrant residents, established a lasting legacy of systemic racism and environmental inequities. So how can we better understand how historical redlining impacts our health and environment today? With funding … Continue reading Exploring how historic redlining impacts health and environment today
One of the most common questions we’re asked is, “How can I avoid harmful chemicals?” With thousands of toxic substances pumped into our air, dumped into our soil and water, and put into our food, clothes, products, homes and workplaces, it’s not easy. Which toxic chemicals should we be worried about? Which are linked to … Continue reading Exposed: How to avoid harmful chemicals
A national study that enrolled a highly diverse group of pregnant women over a 12-year period found rising exposure to chemicals from plastics and pesticides that may be harmful to development. Many of the chemicals that the women had been exposed to were replacement chemicals: new forms of chemicals that have been banned or phased … Continue reading Long-term study of pregnant women finds increasing chemical exposure
In the recent ProPublica article, “She’s Supposed to Protect Americans from Toxic Chemicals. First, She Has to Fix Trump’s Mess and Decades of Neglect,” Dr. Michal Freedhoff, PhD, EPA’s head of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) said: “You can’t ask companies to spend a bunch of money producing data that already … Continue reading EPA can require chemical companies to provide data on PFAS risks. Why isn’t it?
Extreme heat is a burgeoning health threat unleashed by our climate crisis and predicted to get worse amid increasing global warming. But current approaches to health care have generally overlooked exposure to extreme heat in the treatment and prevention of illness. We sought to address this problem. Heat waves have already become more extreme and … Continue reading Surviving Extreme Heat: A climate crisis project
One of the key issues that the scientific community, EPA’s own Scientific Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC), and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) had with EPA’s original systematic review method (TSCA Method) to evaluate chemical risks under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), was how EPA evaluated the quality of the … Continue reading Where did all the evidence go?
When reviewing long, technical EPA science documents it helps to have an idea of what to look for. If you begin on page 1 and read everything in order, you may never get to some of the most critical content. The buried details can ultimately determine whether EPA’s actions will protect people’s health or leave … Continue reading EPA needs to fix its rules for identifying health effects under TSCA
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