EPA has rolled out a new approach to reviewing the health risks for existing chemicals, a results-focused, streamlined strategy that advocates warn could skirt necessary public health precautions.
An internal training video, obtained and released by watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, shows the agency’s chemicals office staff explaining to roughly 80 staffers on how risk assessments are changing and “the information we need to stay afloat.”
EPA has long faced criticism from all sides for its extensive delays on chemical reviews, and the Trump administration has pledged to speed up the process. But critics of the Trump administration are concerned EPA’s new approach could come at the expense of public safety and sound science. Of the more than two dozen existing chemicals going through the evaluation process, none of the reviews have been finalized by the statutory deadlines.
Anna Lowit, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics senior science adviser, instructed staffers to study the chemical “until the answer is affirmative,” and “when it passes, stop.”
