EPA’s chemicals and internal auditor offices are still at odds over the agency’s review of tick and flea collars associated with thousands of pet injuries or deaths.
Sean O’Donnell, head of EPA’s Office of Inspector General, sent a letter last week to the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention doubling down on its previous recommendations: EPA must complete “domestic animal risk assessments” of the two active pesticide ingredients and determine if the collar poses unreasonable risks.
In response to the inspector general’s February report, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Assistant Administrator Michal Freedhoff responded in a letter that her office’s scientific review was “equivalent” to the more rigorous assessment requested by the watchdog and defended her office’s response as “sufficient.”
EPA did not provide answers to additional questions in time for publication.
