Tracey J. Woodruff testifies before Congress

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

EPA’s recent TSCA rulemakings fail to protect workers and communities of color

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

How and why to close the exposure assessment gap

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

CRAs can help EPA more accurately estimate risks from toxic chemical exposures

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

The fox shouldn’t guard the hen house

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 moves to further limit deadly methylene chloride

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

Briefing Capitol Hill on why EPA must use best available science

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

Are “safe” exposure levels really “safe”?

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”?