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
The PRHE team went to Washington, DC last week to brief lawmakers and policy staff on how EPA can use best available science to improve the way it evaluates chemicals for potential human health harm for the Agency to better protect health, communities, and the environment. Moderated by Tracey J. Woodruff, PhD, MPH, PRHE’s director, UCSF … Continue reading Briefing Capitol Hill on why EPA must use best available science
A couple of years ago I went to a wool and sheep festival where, for the first time, I watched dogs herd sheep. They were so smart and efficient, one dog handled dozens of sheep! Regulatory agencies should take a similar approach: chemicals, as sheep, should be assessed and their risk managed by groups. There … Continue reading It’s time to regulate chemicals as classes
Health risk assessment is the method that regulators use to determine whether chemicals in the environment pose a risk to people’s health and how much exposure to the chemical produces these effects. Unfortunately, current human health risk assessments don’t capture everyone’s risk level. Our recent paper, Application of Probabilistic Methods to Address Variability and Uncertainty … Continue reading Are “safe” exposure levels really “safe”?
When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) evaluates chemical risks, it assumes for the most part that we are all the same. Or, rather, that some of us might be a little bit more sensitive than others. Ten times more sensitive, to be specific. But that’s not exactly true. When it comes to chemicals in … Continue reading With chemicals that can harm you, one size does not fit all
Protecting the public from the most concerning environmental chemicals and contaminants involves many individual steps. For example, when an agency like the US EPA or FDA evaluates a chemical used in consumer products, they want to evaluate: the hazards associated with that chemical, how that chemical causes harm, how much of the chemical is released … Continue reading The weak link: gaps in exposure assessments
As Chemicals Proliferate in the Environment, a Science-Based Approach Is Needed to Protect Human Health With chemical production and use on the rise, and continued evidence that many chemicals in everyday products are linked to health problems such as cancer, infertility, and neurodevelopmental conditions, an interdisciplinary group of scientific experts said changes are urgently needed … Continue reading Scientists recommend changes to chemical regulatory process
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
Is EPA giving itself enough time to evaluate the safety of chemicals and protect health? Or is the Agency’s planned process to gather data for risk evaluations on chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), called the “Tiered Data Reporting Rule,” giving harmful substances a “pass” by running out the clock? When TSCA was … Continue reading Running out the TSCA clock could give hazardous chemicals a “pass”
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