National Academies of Sciences issues scathing rebuke of EPA’s TSCA systematic review method

February 16, 2021February 18, 2021 ~ PRHE ~ 4 Comments

NAS Recommends EPA Adopt PRHE’s Navigation Guide and Other Scientifically Rigorous Methods to Evaluate Chemical Risks SAN FRANCISCO - UCSF’s Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment’s (PRHE) systematic review method called the Navigation Guide was recommended by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Report, “The Use of Systematic Review in EPA’s … Continue reading National Academies of Sciences issues scathing rebuke of EPA’s TSCA systematic review method

How EPA’s method for assessing study quality is designed to exclude critical evidence

October 30, 2020 ~ PRHE ~ 3 Comments

Rules and regulations that govern our air, water, food, and the products in our homes should be based on the best available scientific evidence. EPA, however, is using a faulty systematic review method that can exclude critical evidence and have negative consequences for public health. One vital step in a systematic review is to assess … Continue reading How EPA’s method for assessing study quality is designed to exclude critical evidence

Wolf in sheep’s clothing, part 2: How EPA’s TSCA systematic review method is threatening public health

August 25, 2020September 14, 2020 ~ Nick Chartres ~ 4 Comments

UPDATE: EPA is considering dropping TSCA systematic review’s study scoring system, according to Inside EPA. Deputy Director of the Risk Assessment Division within EPA’s toxics office, Stan Barone, criticized the numeric scoring system during an August 24 meeting of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) committee that is peer reviewing EPA’s systematic … Continue reading Wolf in sheep’s clothing, part 2: How EPA’s TSCA systematic review method is threatening public health

Wolf in sheep’s clothing, part 1: EPA’s TSCA systematic review method

May 12, 2020September 14, 2020 ~ Nick Chartres ~ 2 Comments

How do you know whether you can trust a conclusion reached in a scientific review assessing the harms of an environmental exposure? In part one of this two-part series, we will explain how scientists evaluate an entire body of evidence to answer a specific research question using systematic review methods and look at why this … Continue reading Wolf in sheep’s clothing, part 1: EPA’s TSCA systematic review method

Using shoddy methods, EPA says chemical is not risky

June 20, 2019March 9, 2023 ~ PRHE

As many times as my parents used it, “because I said so” is never a good rationale-- but that’s basically what EPA wants us to believe for why the chemical Pigment Violet 29 is not risky. We blogged previously that the meager available data does not support this conclusion, and EPA’s release of additional information- … Continue reading Using shoddy methods, EPA says chemical is not risky

ROBINS-E: Good studies gone bad

March 11, 2019January 22, 2020 ~ PRHE ~ 1 Comment

Assessing environmental hazards often requires the evaluating a diverse body of evidence of varying quality. It is critical to consider the credibility of the individual studies used in the evaluation to reach conclusions through a consistent, transparent, and empirically-demonstrated methods such as those used in systematic review. The GRADE Working Group recently released one such … Continue reading ROBINS-E: Good studies gone bad

PRHE at American Public Health Association 2018 meeting

November 6, 2018November 11, 2018 ~ PRHE

The Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment invites you to the following events at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting & Exposition 2018, on November 10-14, 2018, at the San Diego Convention Center...

EPA method will curtail science used in chemical evaluations

August 17, 2018October 22, 2019 ~ Tracey Woodruff ~ 1 Comment

EPA recently released its new TSCA “systematic review” method that establishes how the Agency will use science to make decisions about whether to limit toxic chemicals in our air, water, food and everyday products. Unfortunately, our analysis finds that instead of ensuring a comprehensive, unbiased evaluation, like a systematic review is supposed to do, the … Continue reading EPA method will curtail science used in chemical evaluations